The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says “for the moment the United Kingdom remains bound by its obligations under the domestic and International Refugee Law”.
Addressing reporters on Friday in relation to the United Kingdom’s referendum on its exit from the European Union, the spokesperson for UNHCR, Adrian Edwards, said that “the outcome of the referendum doesn’t affect UK’s obligations”.
“The 1951 Refugee Convention still, still applies. The outcome of this referendum doesn’t have bearing on that at the moment. The International Refugee Convention, its obligation, the UK’s obligations to that, but domestically under its own laws and to international law weren’t part of this referendum,” Mr Edwards stressed.
He said that the agency would continue to watch.
On his part, the spokesperson for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Joel Millmann, said that “the referendum results is a process that has actually started now and not concluded”.
“As of now the discussions and negotiations will start on how the relationship between the UK and the EU will look on all policy areas.
“IOM respects the sovereign wishes of the British electorate by reminding all that manage migration and migration governance is a process of ensuring and improving safe legal and secure migration for all,” he told reporters.
British electorates had in a referendum voted for an exit from the European Union, a position that Prime Minister David Cameron was not in support of.
After the result of the referendum was in favour of an exit, Mr Cameron resigned as the Prime Minister but said he would leave office after three months to “steady the ship”.
