Human Rights Watch condemned a slew of laws targeting illegal immigrants and protesters
People thought to be migrants are stopped by the police outside a holding facility in Kent, Britain, November 2, 2022. © AP / Alberto Pezzali
The UK could become known as a “human rights abuser,” should it not reverse a series of controversial laws, a new report from Human Rights Watch warns. The NGO criticized Britain’s treatment of illegal immigrants, protesters, welfare recipients, and ethnic minorities, among others.
The organization’s yearly report hammered the British government for an agreement allowing migrants to be flown to Rwanda while their asylum claims are being processed, and for enforcing its own laws against illegal immigration, which activists say it shouldn’t be allowed to do.
Britain’s conservative leaders were also condemned for restricting the right to protest, for demanding that voters show identification, and for limiting judicial review of decisions in immigration and social security cases. Furthermore, the country’s police force, healthcare system, and sporting organizations were accused of “institutional racism.”
Read more
The government was further condemned for capping welfare benefits during a period of record food and energy costs, and for allowing a pandemic-era ban on evictions to lapse, triggering a rise in homelessness.
“When you come to the UK, you look at the very worrying trend we are seeing,” HRW Executive Director Tirana Hassan said. “A slew of legislation was passed last year where fundamental human rights are being challenged.”
The UK has a “very short window” to abandon these legal and policy decisions, she continued, warning that it would otherwise join “the countries listed as human rights abusers rather than human rights protectors.”
Founded as the explicitly anti-Soviet ‘Helsinki Watch’ in the late 1970s, Human Rights Watch has since rebranded and expanded its focus to the entire world. However, it remains anti-Russian and anti-Chinese in its leanings, with its 2022 report on the UK praising the British government for accusing Beijing of human rights abuses and sanctioning Moscow in response to the conflict in Ukraine.
Between 2010 and 2020, HRW received $100 million in funding from liberal megadonor and pro-immigration lobbyist George Soros, who described it as “one of the most effective organizations I support.”
