My Lords, my name is to the opposition to Clause 29 and the other clauses mentioned in this group as well. Of course, opposing Clause 29 is a consequence of opposing the other clauses, all of which, we say, should go. I have written down “clauses on interpretation”; the term “laundering” had not yet occurred to me, but I follow the point about the interpretation or laundering of the refugee convention. The overall point, as I say, is that they should all go.
On Second Reading, I described it as perverse to use domestic legislation to impose an interpretation of an international convention. Since then, at earlier points in this Committee, we have heard much more powerful, analytical, legally informed responses, and, though I am speaking before the contributors to whom I am referring, I think I would be much better following them—that is not intended to be at all disrespectful to the Minister, nor indeed to the very experienced lawyer from whom we have just heard. The humanitarian arguments have been very well put, but the short point I took away from an earlier day is inarguable. We are party to the convention: it is our law; it is well-established law. If we were to leave the convention—which, of course, I am not advocating—that would be another matter. But we have not left it, and I hope we are not going to.
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The proposed interpretations are not simply a collection of different bits of law; they rewrite the whole of it in a way that undermines the spirit and intention of the convention and—there is a lot of agreement on this in the Committee, I believe—in a manner inconsistent with international standards. We will become out of step with the internationally accepted interpretations and out of step with the international community, or, at any rate, those parts of the international community that we want to be in step with.
I turn from the macro to the micro, although it would not seem micro to the people involved. On Clause 35, which deals with Article 1(F) of the convention, perhaps the Minister could say whether I am correct in my assumption, as I think I must be, that the other parties to the convention have not agreed a variation; otherwise, the clause would not be there, as it could be dealt with internationally. This is the provision about what is meant by a “serious non-political crime”, which has impacts for the application of the convention, which does not to apply to, among others, a person who
“has committed a serious non-political crime outside the country of refuge prior to his admission to that country”.
I understand from the statement issued by the UNHCR that the purpose of Article 1(F) is to deny the benefits of refugee status to people who would otherwise qualify but are “undeserving of such benefits” for that reason. This is
“to ensure that such persons do not misuse the institution of asylum in order to avoid being held legally accountable”.
The position is
“to protect the integrity of the institution of asylum”
and this should be applied “scrupulously”.
I was quite intrigued by this. I had to stop myself pursuing reading about it because it would have taken me far too long, but am I right in thinking that this is
an outcome of the case AH (Algeria)? I am sure that the Minister has a briefing on this. I understand that the facts there concern the difference between courts of different countries and that signatory states are
“not free to adopt their own definitions”
of what constitutes serious crime. That is what the Court of Appeal had to say. Of course, that does not answer my point about unilateral interpretation.
Unless the Government have a change of heart, I cannot see that we will not be returning to this on Report, so all the excellent briefing that we have received can wait until then. We have been given such great tutorials and I think that we will receive more. All that briefing has been welcome but may not have been necessary.