Britain has presented details of a bill that would ban the entry of asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the English Channel, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

Some charities believe the efforts of thousands of genuine refugees will be undermined and criminalised.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced stopping migrant boats as one of his government’s five priorities after the number of migrants arriving on England’s south coast rose to more than 45,000 last year, with 90% of them seeking asylum .

Under the new legislation, anyone who arrives in the UK in this way will be barred from applying for asylum; they will be deported either back to their countries of origin or to so-called safe third countries.

The provision would allow illegal migrants to be detained without bail or a court challenge for the first 28 days until they can be deported, and deportations can no longer be blocked by citing anti-slavery laws, Interior Secretary Suella Braverman explained.

She told parliament in London on Tuesday that “if the government did not act against the waves of illegal migrants breaching our borders, it would be a betrayal of the will of the people we were elected to serve”.

The Refugee Council charity said the law would leave genuine refugees “locked in poverty” and compared the government’s approach to that of “authoritarian states” such as Russia, which has withdrawn from international human rights treaties.

The United Nations Refugee Convention provides for a fair hearing for asylum seekers, regardless of how they arrived.

Braverman said that the government to which he belongs is convinced of the compatibility of the new law with international obligations.

Authorities approve only around two-thirds of applications for asylum or other forms of humanitarian protection from those who arrived in the UK on small boats. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs indicated that the law will introduce an annual limit on the number of refugees who will be granted the right to reside safely and legally.

In 2022, the number of asylum applications in the United Kingdom reached 75,000, a 20-year high, but below the European Union average. Last year, Germany received more than 240,000 such requests.

The opposition and charities have expressed doubts that the government’s new plans will be more effective than previous attempts to deter those crossing the Channel.

“We need serious action to stop dangerous boat crossings that put lives at risk and undermine border security,” said Yvette Cooper, Labour’s home affairs spokeswoman.

Last year, former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson approved a deal to send thousands of refugees to Rwanda, more than 6,000 kilometers from Britain. The first deportation flight was blocked at the last minute by a decision of the European Court of Human Rights. In December, the High Court in London ruled that the British authorities’ approach was legal; however, opponents are trying to appeal.

Braverman told parliament he was talking to the European Court of Human Rights to avoid “misuse” of rulings that would suspend future deportations of migrants.

According to a YouGov poll last November, for British voters, immigration control is the third most important issue after the economy and the management of the national health system; 87% of citizens believe that the government controls migration poorly.