“NO IFS, NO BUTS: UK LAW TO SEND ASYLUM SEEKERS TO RWANDA PASSED

Tue 23 April 2024:

A problematic United Kingdom government bill to transport asylum seekers to Rwanda has finally received approval from the upper house of parliament, after multiple modifications, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promising to begin flights to Kigali within weeks.

Sunak thinks that the measure will enhance his Conservative Party’s poor fortunes in the upcoming election, which is largely expected later this year.

The House of Lords, an unelected chamber, had long refused to back the divisive plan without additional safeguards, but relented after Sunak said the government would force parliament to sit as late into Monday night as necessary to get the bill passed.

British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, promised on Monday to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks, telling the Upper House of Parliament he will force the new legislation through despite its opposition to the plan, Reuters reports.

The National Audit Office, a public spending watchdog, has estimated it will cost the UK some 540 million pounds ($665m) to deport the first 300 asylum seekers.

“No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda,” Sunak told a news conference.

More than 120,000 people – many fleeing wars and poverty in Africa, the Middle East and Asia – have reached the UK since 2018 by crossing the English Channel in small boats, usually inflatable dinghies, on journeys organised by people-smuggling gangs.

Last year, 29,437 asylum seekers made the crossing with one in five of them from Afghanistan, according to the Refugee Council.

Stopping the flow is a prime goal for the government, but critics say the plan to deport people to Rwanda is inhumane and that the East African country is not a safe place.

Other European countries, including Austria and Germany, are also looking at agreements to process asylum seekers abroad.

Under the policy formulated two years ago, any asylum seeker who arrives illegally in Britain will be sent to Rwanda in a scheme the government says will deter Channel crossings and smash the people smugglers’ business model.

Sunak’s team hopes the pre-election pledge will help turn around his electoral fortunes, particularly among wavering Conservative voters who want to see a reduction in immigration. He had previously said he hoped the policy would be operational by spring, without giving a precise date.

Polls suggest his Conservative Party will be badly beaten in this year’s election by Labour, which has said it will scrap the scheme if it wins power. Labour says it will pursue a deal with the European Union to return some arrivals to mainland Europe.

Even if Sunak is successful in stopping the Lords from blocking the legislation, he may still face legal challenges.

Charities and rights groups say they would try to stop individual deportations and the trade union which represents border force staff is promising to argue the new legislation is unlawful “within days” of the first asylum seekers being informed they will be sent to Rwanda.

#UK: Airlines should not facilitate unlawful removals of asylum-seekers to Rwanda 🇷🇼, UN experts say. Such actions might make these companies complicit in violating internationally protected #HumanRights and court orders.https://t.co/EZfERVb1kz pic.twitter.com/1JVhs49Ywt

— UN Special Procedures (@UN_SPExperts) April 22, 2024

“We urgently need the UK government to start treating refugees with decency and stop trying to send them away to an unsafe future in Rwanda,” Lucy Gregg, acting head of Advocacy at Freedom from Torture, said in a statement.

“Along with survivors of torture and the support of thousands of caring people up and down the country, we will unite to show airlines that we won’t tolerate them flying in the face of human decency.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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