The United Kingdom’s Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, is expected to raise questions about the criteria for international refugee protection during her address to a US think tank. Braverman will express concerns that fears of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender should not be the sole basis for qualifying for refugee protection.
Speaking at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC, Braverman will examine whether the application of the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention remains suitable for the modern era. She will argue that the convention, established in the aftermath of World War II, has shifted its focus from aiding those escaping persecution to encompassing individuals who fear bias.
Braverman is set to emphasise that the world has changed significantly since the Refugee Convention was originally drafted. She will state, “As case law has developed, what we have seen in practice is an interpretive shift away from ‘persecution,’ in favour of something more akin to a definition of ‘discrimination.’ And a similar shift away from a ‘well-founded fear’ toward a ‘credible’ or ‘plausible fear.’ The practical consequence of which has been to expand the number of those who may qualify for asylum, and to lower the threshold for doing so.”
The Refugee Convention, at its core, holds that refugees should not be forcibly returned to countries where they face threats to their life or freedom. However, Braverman’s remarks suggest a growing concern that the criteria for refugee status have evolved to encompass a broader range of circumstances.
Critics argue that the expanded criteria for refugee status could potentially grant protection rights to an estimated 780 million individuals worldwide, according to figures from the Centre for Policy Studies. This number is based on the possibility of individuals having a “well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.” Such criteria could encompass people from various regions, including Afghanistan and Eritrea, where unique circumstances have driven individuals into exile.
While Braverman’s comments are being delivered thousands of miles away in the United States, they are expected to spark significant debate within the UK’s political circles. On Tuesday, Police Minister Chris Philp expressed similar concerns about the definition of who qualifies for refugee status, noting that it has been stretched over the course of 70 years of case law. He stated that the convention is now “being used by essentially economic migrants to try and claim asylum to move between countries.
