Is the UN Refugee Convention ‘Fit’ for Our Modern Age?

With Europe and the United States struggling to deal with the surging waves of migrants, questions are being raised about the UN Refugee Convention. UK’s interior minister Suella Braverman asked whether the Refugee Convention and the way it has come to be interpreted through the courts, is fit for our modern age, or is there a need for reform. 

She believes uncontrolled and illegal migration was an existential challenge for the political and cultural institutions of the West. But the UN Refugee Convention gives 780 million people the potential right to move to another country. 

The United Nations says it’s a basic rule of history that nations which cannot defend their borders will not long survive. “It is a basic rule of politics that political systems which cannot control their borders will not maintain the consent of the people, and thus not long endure.” 

Rights Groups Rebuke UK’s Modern Age Policies

The UK has not taken any positive policies or actions to make it easy for people fleeing conflicts, persecution and poverty-riddled countries. Sacha Deshmukh, human rights group’s chief executive, condemned Braverman’s inflammatory speech. “Suella Braverman should focus on creating a functioning UK asylum system that tackles the massive backlog her policies have created, to be able to meet the limited refugee responsibilities that fall to the United Kingdom.” 

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Braverman warned of threats to public safety and national security. She said UK police chiefs have highlighted heightened levels of criminality linked, such as drugs and prostitution, to some small boat arrivals. The UK minister pointed out that this is not an event-driven or cyclical problem, but a permanent and structural challenge for developed nations. 

She believes this will only worsen in the years to come, if they do not act now.

Illegal Migrants a Threat to Security and Society

Braverman said migration to the UK and Europe, in the last 25 years, has been too much too quick. Little to no thought has been given to integration and the impact on social cohesion. “Multiculturalism has failed because it allowed people to come to our society and live parallel lives in it, and even pursue lives aimed at undermining the stability and threatening the security of our society.” 

The UK minister believes it doesn’t make one anti-immigrant to say that the nation state must be protected. “Unless countries can prevent or rapidly remove illegal migrants, pressures on the state will compound over time. Accommodation cannot be magicked out of thin air.”