Source · Select Committees · Human Rights (Joint Committee)
Recommendation 2
2
Acknowledged
We support the Government’s intention to disrupt and deter organised immigration crime and to safeguard...
Recommendation
We support the Government’s intention to disrupt and deter organised immigration crime and to safeguard life. However, we are concerned that the precursor offences, as currently drafted, create uncertainty, extend beyond the Government’s stated legitimate aim, and risk inadvertently criminalising persons who ought to be protected from criminal penalty. The scope is broad, the thresholds are low, and the penalties are high. To ensure compliance with the Refugee Convention, the Smuggling Protocol, and the Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking, we propose a series of amendments. (Conclusion, Paragraph 50)
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the committee's sentiment to protect vulnerable groups but defends the current drafting of the new offences, stating they are tailored to be proportionate and effective in disrupting organised immigration crime and protecting those exploited. They indicate that amendments could pose risks to effectiveness.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
We would start by reaffirming the intention of these new offences to enable earlier, faster disruption of organised immigration crime. This criminality puts vulnerable people, the very groups to which the report refers, at risk of exploitation and harm. We recognise and support the sentiment behind the report’s recommendations to protect vulnerable groups and uphold the UK’s international commitments. We want to highlight that this is also the purpose of the new offences. By enabling faster, earlier disruption, the aim is to break the smuggling gangs’ business models and protect those they exploit, preventing the harm they cause. The offences have been specifically tailored to ensure an approach that is both proportionate and effective in achieving their aims. They will sit within wider criminal justice structures that are in place to account for the potential vulnerability of suspects. We set out in further detail below the risks that some of the recommendations would pose to their effectiveness.