FAST DOWNLOAD
A judge has ruled that large parts of the government’s Illegal Migration Act should not apply in Northern Ireland because they breach human rights laws.
He ruled some elements of the act are in breach of the Windsor Framework.
This is the revised post-Brexit deal agreed between the UK and European Union last year.
Mr Justice Humphreys also declared parts of the act to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Illegal Migration Act provides new powers for the UK government to detain and remove asylum seekers it deems to have arrived illegally in the UK.
Central to the new immigration laws is the scheme to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda – although this falls under separate legislation that deems Rwanda to be a safe country.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the NI court decision would not change the government’s plan to send illegal migrants to Rwanda.
Teenage asylum seeker
The Windsor Framework deals mostly with trade issues but also includes a human rights element.It commits the UK not to water down the human rights provisions that flow from the Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 deal which brought an end to 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.
The judge found that several elements of the act do cause a “significant” diminution of the rights enjoyed by asylum seekers residing in Northern Ireland under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
“I have found that there is a relevant diminution of right in each of the areas relied upon by the applicants,” he said.
