Controversial deportation practice – British Parliament approves law on Rwanda asylum pact – News

  • After weeks of discussions, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pushed a law on the controversial asylum pact with Rwanda through parliament.
  • The agreement with Rwanda stipulates that migrants who arrived irregularly should no longer be given the opportunity to apply for asylum in Great Britain.
  • The law circumvents a UK Supreme Court ruling declaring Rwanda a safe third country.

The highest court in Great Britain declared the asylum pact unlawful in November, citing doubts about the rule of law in Rwanda. Critics accuse the East African country of human rights violations. The government wants to use the law to prevent appeals against deportations in British courts.

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Irregular migration is a nuisance for the Conservative government, which is under considerable pressure given a huge deficit in the polls in the general election year.

Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP

The upper house – the House of Lords – as the second chamber of parliament, had passed amendments several times, which were then reversed by the lower house in a time-consuming process. Eventually the House of Lords gave up its resistance. This means that King Charles III’s bill can be passed. be put into effect with his signature.

Sunak wants to ignore ECHR orders

Migrants who entered the country irregularly should be brought to Rwanda regardless of their origin and apply for asylum there. There are no plans to return to Great Britain. The aim of the regulation is to prevent people from crossing the English Channel in small boats and migrating to Great Britain. Rwanda gets money in return.

What the Supreme Court criticized


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The court made it clear that it does not view Rwanda as a safe third country and complained that it was not guaranteed that people there would receive a fair asylum procedure. The Supreme Court relied on reports from the UN refugee agency and previous British information about extrajudicial executions, deaths in custody, torture and a high level of rejection of asylum applications from conflict areas such as Syria.

Prime Minister Sunak announced that the first plane should take off in ten to twelve weeks. The government had previously announced the first departure for spring. The only flight that was supposed to take off to Rwanda was stopped at the last minute by an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights. The highest court in Great Britain later declared the asylum pact illegal.

Sunak announced that he would ignore interim injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against the asylum pact with Rwanda. At the same time, he emphasized that his actions did not conflict with international law. Commercial charter flights were booked for the deportations. In addition, hundreds of clerks and judges have been chosen to process possible lawsuits.

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