INTERNATIONAL LAW ASPECTS OF THE POST-BREXIT MIGRATION POLICY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Abstract

Introduction. In March 2022, the Home Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain published the Statement on New Immigration Plan according to which persons having no right to reside on its territory would be removed to “safe third countries” according to the agreements with such states. On April 13th, 2022, a Memorandum of Understanding between Great Britain and Rwanda was signed prescribing that persons whose applications for asylum were not considered by Great Britain be removed to Rwanda for those applications to be considered by the latter. Incompatibility of the contemporary immigration policy of Great Britain with its international law obligations justifies the topicality of the assessment of its implications for codification and progressive development of international law. Materials and Methods. The assessment of the contemporary immigration policy of Great Britain from the standpoint of international law includes the matching of the provisions of the international and national acts adopted by Great Britain as well as official statements of its state bodies and officials and the provisions of universal treaties and “soft law” acts. The writings of the publicists studying international law aspects of forced migration, asylum and human rights served as theoretical framework of the present study. Research Results. The assessment of the Memorandum of Understanding reveals the incompatibility of its provisions with the international law norms on asylum and human rights. Such international law policy of the state should be regarded as an example of rejection of international law which is referred to as “international law nihilism” in Russian legal doctrine.Discussions and conclusions. The authors argue that further adoption of legal and political measures contrary to states’ obligations under treaties and international custom as well as the absence of expressed official positions of states with regards to such measures may have an impact on construction and application of international law norms governing legal status of forced migrants.