UK charity Refugee Action responds to today’s announcement that the Australian asylum system will be overhauled to prevent asylum seekers arriving by boat from resettling in Australia.

Dave Garratt, Chief Executive of Refugee Action, said:

“Enshrined in the UN Convention on Refugees is the principle of offering protection to people whose lives are at risk or whose human rights have been violated.

“As signatories of the Convention, we all have a shared responsibility to offer protection. We also share a duty to treat people seeking protection with humanity and respect.

“Worryingly, recent reports show the UK Government is creating an increasingly hostile environment for people who are practicing their legal right to claim asylum. We urgently need to take the politics out of our asylum system and put human dignity and universal rights at its core.”

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