The UNHCR said there is no a need for more restrictive interpretation on who qualifies for protection.
Campaigners have criticised comments by Home Secretary Suella Braverman on asylum protections for gay people and women
Ms Braverman claimed there had been a change over the years which has seen more people enter the system as the bar for qualification has lowered.She described the “interpretive shift away from ‘persecution’, in favour of something more akin to a definition of ‘discrimination’, as well as a “similar shift away from a ‘well-founded fear’ toward a ‘credible’ or ‘plausible fear'”.
But the UNHCR, which released a statement shortly after her speech, said there is no need for reform “or more restrictive interpretation, but for stronger and more consistent application of the convention and its underlying principle of responsibility-sharing”. She said: “Under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, it has been well settled for decades that women and LGBTQ+ people who are persecuted and need to flee their home countries are to be protected by the international community.”
He told Times Radio: “When I was immigration minister I came across a number of cases when people had claimed to be gay, produced photographs of them and a sort of same-sex partner and it turned out on further investigation it was a sibling, it wasn’t a same-sex partner at all.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Braverman says women and LGBT+ people fleeing persecution should not get refugee statusThe Home Secretary is accused of 'pulling up the drawbridge' and 'authoritarianism' as she moves to deny rights to marginalised people fleeing persecution
Read more »
Suella Braverman to criticise 'absurd' and 'unsustainable' UN asylum rulesThe home secretary is due to make a speech in the US where she will criticise the Refugee Convention. | ITV National News
Read more »
Suella Braverman to question post-World War Two refugee rules in speechShe will say a system where being 'fearful of discrimination' means people 'qualify for protection' is unsustainable.
Read more »
Being gay or a woman isn't reason enough to claim asylum, says BravermanThe home secretary is set to deliver a speech to a thinktank in the US later and is spearheading her government's attempts to 'stop the boats' - a key pledge of Rishi Sunak's ahead of an election expected next year.
Read more »