The controversial law is expected to come into force within days, with the first deportation flights within weeks.
A controversial UK government bill to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has finally won approval from the upper house of parliament, which required numerous changes, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to start the first flights to Kigali within weeks.
Sunak hopes the legislation will boost his Conservative Party’s dismal fortunes in an election due later this year.
The House of Lords, an unelected chamber, had long refused to support the divisive plan without additional safeguards, but relented after Sunak said the government would force parliament to meet by Monday night as necessary so that the project was approved.
“No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda,” Sunak said at a press conference earlier in the day.
Rwanda’s scheme, criticized by United Nations human rights experts and groups supporting asylum seekers, has been beset by legal challenges since it was first proposed as a way to reduce the number of asylum seekers crossing the English Channel in small boats.
In June 2022, the first deportees were removed from a flight at the last minute, following an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights. The following year, the UK High Court ruled that sending asylum seekers on a one-way ticket to Kigali was illegal and would put them at risk.
The National Audit Office, a public spending watchdog, has estimated that it will cost the UK around £540 million ($665 million) to deport the first 300 asylum seekers.
The House of Lords criticized the latest bill as inadequate and demanded changes, including a requirement that Rwanda could not be treated as safe until an independent monitoring body found it to be true.
They also wanted an exemption from removal for UK agents, allies and staff abroad, including Afghans who fought alongside the British Armed Forces.
In the end, the Lords relented and let the bill pass without any formal changes. The legislation is expected to receive royal assent from King Charles later this week and will then become law.
#UK: Airlines should not facilitate illegal removals of asylum seekers to Rwanda , say UN experts. Such actions may make these companies complicit in the violation of internationally protected rights. #Human rights and court orders. pic.twitter.com/1JVhs49Ywt
— UN Special Procedures (@UN_SPExperts) April 22, 2024
More than 120,000 people – many of them fleeing war and poverty in Africa, the Middle East and Asia – have arrived in the United Kingdom since 2018, crossing the English Channel in small boats, usually inflatable dinghies, on trips organized by gangs of human smuggling.
Last year, 29,437 asylum seekers crossed, with one in five coming from Afghanistan, according to the Refugee Council.
Critics say the plan to deport people to Rwanda rather than treat asylum seekers at home is inhumane, citing concerns about the East African country’s own human rights record and the risk of asylum seekers being sent back. back to countries where they would be in danger.
The so-called “Security of Rwanda” bill states that some existing UK human rights statutes will not apply to the scheme and that Rwanda should be treated by UK judges as a safe destination, despite the Supreme Court declared the scheme illegal. It also limits individual appeal options to exceptional cases only.
Other European countries, including Austria and Germany, are also considering agreements to process asylum seekers in third countries.
Sunak’s plans could still be derailed by legal challenges, and UN human rights experts have suggested that airlines and aviation regulators could run afoul of internationally protected human rights laws if they take part in deportations.
Around 150 people have already been identified for the first two flights.
Polls suggest that the Conservatives, who claimed that Britain’s departure from the European Union would give the country “control” over its borders and the ability to reduce immigration, will be heavily defeated in the next election by the opposition Labor Party.
Labor has said it will abandon the scheme if it wins power and works on a deal with the EU to return some people arriving in mainland Europe.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
