A committee of British lawmakers said Sunday that the U.K. will break its international human rights commitments if it goes through with government plans to detain and deport people who cross the English Channel in small boats. Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights said the Illegal Migration Bill "breaches a number of the U.K.'s international human rights obligations and risks breaching others." Also Read: UK’s Sunak vows to halve inflation, tackle illegal migration Scottish National Party lawmaker Joanna Cherry, who chairs the committee, said the law would leave most refugees and victims of modern slavery with no way of seeking asylum in Britain. "By treating victims of modern slavery as 'illegal migrants' subject to detention and removal, this bill would breach our legal obligations to such victims and would risk increasing trafficking of vulnerable people," she said. The committee urged the government to make sweeping amendments to the bill, including exempting trafficking victims and curbing the government's power to detain people indefinitely. The government, which had pledged to "stop the boats," is unlikely to heed the recommendations. The legislation bars asylum claims by anyone who reaches the U.K. by unauthorized means, and compels officials to detain and then deport refugees and migrants "to their home country or a safe third country," such as Rwanda. Once deported, they would be banned from ever re-entering the U.K. Also Read: Asylum seeker accommodation in UK ‘racialised segregation and de facto detention’: Report Britain's Conservative government says the law will deter tens of thousands of people from making perilous journeys across the Channel and break the business model of the criminal gangs behind the trips. Critics, including the United Nations' refugee agency, have described the legislation as unethical and unworkable. The parliamentary committee questioned whether the law would act as a deterrent and said it "could lead to people taking other, potentially more dangerous, routes into the UK." The bill has been approved by the House of Commons, where the governing Conservatives have a majority, but is facing opposition in Parliament's upper chamber, the House of Lords. The Lords can amend the legislation but not block it. Also Read: EU+ saw 1 million asylum applications, including record 34,000 from Bangladeshis, in 2022 More than 45,000 people, including many fleeing countries such as Afghanistan, Iran and Syria, arrived in Britain in small boats last year, up from 8,500 in 2020. The government has housed many of those awaiting asylum decisions in hotels, which officials say costs taxpayers millions of pounds (dollars) a day. Authorities have said they plan to place new arrivals in disused military camps and a barge docked on the southern English coast.

) Israel said it deported a Palestinian lawyer and activist to France, claiming he has ties to a banned militant group, despite objections from the French government. The explusion of Salah Hammouri underscored the fragile status of the status of Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and set up a possible diplomatic spat with France. The French government had repeatedly appealed to Israel not to carry out the expulsion. Israel’s interior minister, Ayelet Shaked, announced the deportation in a brief statement. Read more: Beefed-up Israel police clash with Palestinians in Jerusalem “I’m happy to announce that justice was served today and the terrorist Salah Hammouri was deported from Israel," she said in a videotaped statement. Israel says Hammouri is an activist in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Hammouri had been held in administrative detention without being charged. Shaked ordered the expulsion when his detention ended. Hammouri was born in Jerusalem but holds French citizenship Read more: Palestinians clash with Israeli police at major holy site

Bangladesh has reiterated its call to Canada for the deportation of Nur Chowdhury, the self-confessed and convicted killer of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. During a bilateral meeting with Canadian Minister for International Development Harjit Sajjan at the Indonesian Lounge in UNHQs on Friday, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen drew attention of the government of Canada for the deportation of Nur Chowdhury from the country. Few days ago in Dhaka, Dr Momen raised the same issue with Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Lilly Nicholls. Also read: Bangladesh reiterates call to Canada for deportation of killer Nur Chy "We understand it’s an important issue for Bangladesh. I’ll convey this to my capital,” the High Commissioner told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka. Nur Chowdhury has been living in Canada as a fugitive for close to thirty years. The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh updated Canadian counterpart Harjit Sajjan about the ongoing situation of Rohingya and sought Canada's cooperation in repatriating Rohingyas to Myanmar, according to Bangladesh Mission at the UN. The Canadian Minister assured his country's support for the repatriation of the Rohingya and praised Bangladesh's generosity in providing shelter and humanitarian assistance to the the persecuted Rohingya population. Dr Momen invited the Canadian Minister to visit Bangladesh while the Canadian Minister accepted the invitation and said that he would visit Bangladesh at a convenient time. The Foreign Minister is now in New York on an official visit. Also read: Joint committee to work to brand Bangladesh in Canada He will present Bangladesh’s amended documents to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) at the UN on March 1.

Saudi Arabia has deported another 132 Bangladeshi workers, including five women, on Tuesday night.

Bangladeshi worker Sumi Akter, who went viral on social media seeking help to escape torture by her employer in Saudi Arabia, finally returned home on Friday morning.