This is Refugee Week, 17th – 23rd June, and as we’re right into the hot bed of electioneering let’s see what the main political parties have to say about their international responsibilities to people fleeing from conflict, war and persecution.

What is a refugee?

The definition of a refugee according to the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is:

“A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”

It was the appalling genocide of the holocaust and the massive displacement of peoples, mainly across Europe, in the aftermath of World War 2 that led to the  1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Article 14 of the Declaration states: “Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”

What’s in the Manifestos?

The Conservatives: ‘Clear Plan, Bold Action, Secure Future’

The Tories pledge to:

• Stop the boats by removing illegal migrants to Rwanda.
• Work with other countries to rewrite asylum treaties to make them fit for the challenges we face
• Establish a deterrent – a relentless, continual process of permanently removing illegal migrants to Rwanda with a regular rhythm of flights every month, starting this July, until the boats are stopped. “If we are forced to choose between our security and the jurisdiction of a foreign court, including the ECtHR, we will always choose our security”
• End the legal merry-go-round – stopping illegal migrants from bringing challenges to block their removal by
  bringing our Illegal Migration Act into force and clearing the asylum backlog, with all claims processed in six months and the use of hotels ended.
• Crack down on organised immigration crime, including through the National Crime Agency and UK intelligence services
• Reform asylum rules, holding an international summit and working with other countries to reform international laws to make them fit for an age of mass migration.
• restrict visa access from countries that don’t work with us on our national priorities, like illegal migration.
• Return people with no right to be here to their own country – sign further returns deals like the one we have already agreed with Albania.
• maintain visa schemes for people fleeing Hong Kong, Ukraine and the UK Afghan settlement schemes – control how many places offered on safe and legal routes from around the world, with a cap based on the capacity of local areas.

The Tory manifesto describes desperate people as ‘illegal’. The Illegal Migration Act was passed by the UK Parliament in 2023. It changes the law so that those who arrive in the UK ‘illegally’ will not be able to stay here and will instead be detained and then promptly removed, either to their home country or a safe third country. The British Institute of Human Rights
(BIHR) expressed serious human rights concerns over the Act.

The group ‘Freedom From Torture’ state that: “Most people seeking asylum have little choice but to take dangerous journeys and don’t have the option to use the Government’s so-called ‘safe and legal routes’. Internationally, less than 1% of the world’s refugees can access resettlement schemes run by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). No refugee visa exists for people who need to quickly leave their country and airlines get fined if they allow refugees to travel to the UK without valid visas.

“Historically, when a country becomes unsafe and begins to produce refugees, the UK will start denying those nationals visas that would allow people to access planes and arrive in the UK quickly and safely as a means of seeking safety (applying for asylum) – this happened at the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2015.”

On the new agreement reached with Albania by the UK Tory Government, Law Centres state that: “The government’s own country information indicates that Albania has significant and longstanding issues related to corruption, trafficking, blood feuds, discrimination and violence against the LGBTQI community, stigma and discrimination against the Roma community, gang-related violence, and sexual and domestic violence that the Albanian government appears either unable or unwilling to resolve. Read more on MiCLU’s website: Is Albania a Safe Country? 

Labour., ‘Change’

What does Labour pledge to do in its manifesto with regards to refugees ?

Priority number 3 is Launch a new Border Security Command with hundreds of new specialist investigators and use counter-terror powers to smash criminal boat gangs

It states:  the system needs to be controlled and managed and we need strong borders. The small boats crisis, fuelled by dangerous criminal smuggler gangs, is undermining our security and costing lives

• go after the criminal gangs who trade in driving this crisis. 
• employ hundreds of new investigators, intelligence officers, and cross-border police officers
• This will be funded by ending the Migration and Economic Development partnership with Rwanda. 
• a new security agreement with the EU will be sought
• a new returns and enforcement unit, with an additional 1,000 staff, to fast-track removals to safe countries for people who do not have the right to stay here will be set up

Scottish National Party (SNP) ‘A Future Made In Scotland’

The SNP describe the UK Rwanda Scheme as ‘morally repugnant’ and pledge to:

• Scrap the Rwanda scheme and stand firm against the demonisation of migrants.
• Introduce a right to consular assistance for British nationals including those who are stranded, imprisoned or who die overseas and to implement in full the recommendations of the 2019 All Party Parliamentary Group report on deaths abroad.
• Respect international law and protect rights – strengthen human rights protections for all.
• to call on the UK Government to respect international law and strongly oppose any attempts by the UK government to withdraw the UK from the ECHR or change the Human Rights Act which is integral to the devolution settlement for the Scottish Parliament.
• Stand up for asylum seekers – scrapping the Rwanda scheme and continuing to strongly oppose no recourse to public funds.
• urge the UK Government to grant asylum seekers the right to work and fundamentally change their approach to housing asylum seekers, ensuring accommodation is safe, suitable and dignified.

Liberal Democrats ‘For A Fair Deal’

The Liberal Democrats pledge to:

• invest in officers, training and technology to tackle smuggling, trafficking and modern slavery.
• Scrap the Illegal Migration Act and the Rwanda scheme, uphold the Refugee Convention, and provide safe and legal routes to sanctuary for refugees, helping to prevent dangerous Channel crossings.
• stablish a dedicated unit to improve the speed and quality of asylum decision-making, introducing a service standard of three months for all but the most complex asylum claims to be processed, and speeding up returns of those without a right to stay.
• Lift the ban on asylum seekers working if they have been waiting for a decision for more than three months, enabling them to support themselves, integrate in their communities and contribute to the economy.
• Work closely with Europol and the French authorities to stop the smuggling and trafficking gangs behind dangerous Channel crossings.

Scottish Green Party  ‘Vote Like Our Future Depends On It’

The Scottish Greens pledge to: ” abolish the racist Home Office, repeal the Rwanda Act and other Tory legislation that has embedded racism into Asylum and Immigration policy, and remove the Tory’s punitive income requirements for spousal visas.”

• Ensure the UK remains a member of the European Convention on Human Rights.
• Making the Equality and Human Rights Commission fit for purpose – calling for the commission to be de-politicised, with responsibility for appointments to the Commission to be taken from UK Ministers and given to an independent body
• Actively support the work of human rights defenders worldwide, including those defending women’s and LGBTQIA+ human rights.
• Protect the right to claim asylum by immediately repealing the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act, the Illegal Migration Act and the Nationality and Borders Act
• Ensure asylum applications are processed in a fair and humane manner, whilst allowing people to remain in local communities in the UK throughout the processing period
• Increase asylum support payments to be equal to Universal Credit, grant people the right to work whilst waiting for their claims to be processed, and provide training and development opportunities, particularly for those already trained in high-demand sectors such as health and social care
• Ban the use of institutional accommodation – barracks, hotels, barges – and ensure all people seeking asylum are housed in decent housing in communities
• Close all detention centres, replacing them with tried and tested community-based alternatives
• Remove private companies and profit from the asylum system in their entirety: redirect funding to local authorities, the third sector and other bodies supporting integration
• Devolve the responsibilities for providing refugee and asylum support to the Scotland
• Actively work with global partners to provide safe routes to protection for refugees, including coming to the UK.

The theme of Refugee Week this year is ‘Our Home’ – that’s not about sending people back to where they came from where they are in danger, but about providing them with a safe refuge.

 We are interconnected; we share the earth’s resources, climate and its challenges. As we speak, millions of people are being displaced from their homes because of the climate crisis. But, exchanging knowledge, both new and traditional, can help us in practical ways to build hope for the future.

Together, this Refugee Week let’s practice our solidarity and make Our Home a more welcoming, safe and sustainable place for all.

From the language and pledges of the Manifestos published above, which political parties are responding with humanity to the plight of refugees.

The candidates standing in the Orkney & Shetland Constituency at the General Election on 4th July are as follows:

Fiona Grahame