Call for Evidence

Terms of reference: Legislative Scrutiny: Nationality and Borders Bill

Call for Evidence

The Committee is interested to hear the responses to the following questions:

• Do these reforms adequately address any remaining areas of unjustified discrimination in British nationality law?
• Do proposed changes to the application and appeals process for asylum applicants provide adequate human rights protection, including provisions providing for credibility and the weight given to evidence to be affected by the timeliness of applications and supportive evidence?
• Does introducing a two-tier system of rights for refugees meet the UK’s obligations under refugee law and human rights law?
• Do proposed new powers for UK Border Force to direct vessels out of UK territorial waters, and for the Home Office to return people to “safe countries” risk undermining refugees’ human rights as well as the principle that refugees should not be expelled or returned to the frontiers of territories in any manner whatsoever where they risk persecution (the principle of non-refoulement)?
• What are the implications of extending the offence of helping an asylum seeker facilitate irregular entry to the UK so that it also covers those that may help asylum seekers for no benefit to themselves?
• Do the changes proposed by the Bill adequately protect the right to life for those at sea?
• Do the proposed powers to remove asylum seekers to “safe countries” while their asylum claims are pending, with a view to supporting the processing of asylum claims outside the UK in future, comply with the UK’s obligations under refugee law and human rights law?
• Will the proposed instructions to decision-makers on how to interpret the Refugee Convention secure or restrict the protections that Convention guarantees?
• Do the changes that the Bill would make to the law regarding modern slavery ensure appropriate protections for victims? What will be the consequences of the presumptions that compliance with procedural requirements should affect a person’s credibility as a victim?
• Is Home Office decision-making in immigration matters that raise human rights concerns sufficiently independent and rigorous to ensure that human rights are properly respected?
• Is the Bill otherwise compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings, and international refugee conventions that the UK has ratified?

In addition to calling for written evidence from people wishing to respond to the questions set out in the terms of reference, the Committee has also set up an online web forum to hear a wider range of views on human rights implications of the Bill.

Link to the online web forum can be found here.