Press Archives

Wednesday 22 September 2004

Response by the Joint Council of Immigrants to Conservative Party proposals on immigration:

Habib Rahman, JCWI's Chief Executive, said:

"JCWI is pleased that all three political parties now appear to have come to a consensus that immigration can be beneficial to this country. However, we are utterly shocked to hear that the Conservative Party seems prepared to ditch Britain's long-standing humanitarian commitment to the Geneva Convention

"The Conservative Party continues to focus on abuse of the asylum system at the expense of stressing the human rights protection it affords. We believe that such a focus helps to create an unwarranted fear of immigration in some sections of the UK population and does not create a climate of acceptance towards people who arrive here either as genuine refugees or people who have a desire to work and contribute to our
economy.

"We would also warn that the economic analysis underlying any prospective quota system for persons arriving under a managed migration programme needs to be sophisticated. It needs to take into account the contribution that low-skilled, as well as high skilled migrants, are capable of making and the potential for new self-employed entrepreneurs as well
as the needs generated by UK business. We believe that the current analysis underlying the Conservative Party's proposals is insufficient."