New Clause 7 - Refugee Convention: construction
Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill
1:15 pm
Tony McNulty (Minister of State (Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality), Home Office; Harrow East, Labour)
Article 1(F)(c) of the refugee convention provides for the exclusion of an individual from the protection of the refugee convention in cases in which there are “serious reasons for considering” that the person has been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. Those purposes and principles are set out in the preamble and articles 1 and 2 of the charter of the United Nations. They enumerate fundamental principles that should govern the conduct of members in relation to each other and to the international community. It is implicit in article 1(F)(c) that terrorists should be excluded from asylum decisions that have been upheld by both a tribunal and the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. However, we consider that in the light of the heightened threat of terrorism, particularly following the London bombings, but not exclusively for that reason, it is appropriate to legislate to make it explicit that such individuals should not be afforded the protection of the convention.
We have also made it clear that we do not believe that there are any circumstances in which terrorism is justified, wherever the terrorist act is committed; we cannot condemn terrorist acts in the United Kingdom but tolerate them elsewhere. The amendment is entirely consistent with the refugee convention. It is also in line with UN Security Council resolutions. For example, resolution 1373 states:
“Any act of international terrorism constitutes a threat to international peace and security ... acts, methods, and practices of terrorism are contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations and that knowingly financing, planning and inciting terrorist acts are also contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations”.
We need new clause 7. It is compatible with article 1(F)(c) of the refugee convention. With that in mind, and by way of introduction, I commend the new clause to the Committee.