International calls grew on Tuesday to urge the United Kingdom to stop deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, after the adoption by the British Parliament of a law described as “historic” by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. After months of battle, the British Parliament approved on the night of Monday to Tuesday this bill allowing the expulsion of asylum seekers who entered the United Kingdom illegally, who must now collect the royal seal – a formality – before to come into force.
The government hopes to begin evictions “within 10 to 12 weeks”. In the early hours, Rishi Sunak welcomed the adoption of “historic” legislation. It “makes it clear that if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay,” he added in a statement. Five migrants, including a 4-year-old girl, died early Tuesday while trying to cross the Channel in a small boat that left France with more than 110 people on board.
Kigali “satisfied”
The UN has asked London to “reconsider its plan”, denouncing British laws “increasingly restrictive which have eroded access to refugee protection” since 2022. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, and his counterpart in charge of refugees, Filippo Grandi, called on the government “to instead take practical measures to combat irregular flows of refugees and migrants, on the basis of international cooperation and respect for international law human rights”.
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, for his part described this law as an “attack on the independence of the judiciary”. The Council of Europe, which brings together 46 members, including the United Kingdom, is the depositary of the European Convention on Human Rights, in application of which the European Court of Human Rights had stopped at the last minute in June 2022 a first flight to Rwanda. For its part, Kigali said it was “satisfied”, with government spokesperson Yolande Makolo adding that the authorities were “impatient to welcoming people relocated to Rwanda”.
“Stop the boats”
The British Conservative government, struggling in the polls a few months before the legislative elections, has made the fight against illegal immigration a priority, and has promised to “stop the boats” of migrants who illegally cross the Channel to arrive in the country. After a record in 2022 (45,000), then a decline in 2023 (nearly 30,000), more than 6,260 people have illegally crossed the Channel on makeshift canoes since the start of the year, an increase of more than 20% for the same period last year.
The project aims to deport illegally arrived migrants, wherever they come from, to Rwanda, which will examine their asylum application. Whatever the outcome, they will not be able to return to the UK. Backed by a new treaty between London and Kigali, the text adopted in the British Parliament aimed to respond to the conclusions of the Supreme Court, which judged the initial project illegal last November. It states that Rwanda is a safe country and provides that the government will be able to override possible injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights to prevent expulsions.
“A stain on the moral reputation of this country”
Human rights associations, long opposed to this project, strongly criticized the vote. It is a “national shame” and it “will leave a stain on the moral reputation of this country”, reacted in particular in a press release Sacha Deshmukh, head of Amnesty International in the United Kingdom. In a joint statement, Amnesty, Freedom from Torture and Liberty believe that the text constitutes “a significant threat to the rule of law”. While legal recourse is expected, Rishi Sunak assured Monday that the planes for Rwanda “will take off, whatever happens”.
The government has already reserved planes, mobilized hundreds of staff, notably judges, to quickly process possible appeals from illegal migrants, and released 2,200 detention places for them while waiting for their cases to be studied.