(CN) — The United Kingdom will begin sending asylum seekers to the East African nation of Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Tuesday after Parliament finally approved his contentious scheme.
On Monday night, Britain's Rwanda deportation bill was passed after the House of Lords backed down from delaying its approval by trying to tack on amendments.
The scheme has been blasted by the United Nations and human rights groups as a violation of international humanitarian law. They say it deprives asylum seekers of the chance to have their claims for refuge in the U.K. assessed fairly and puts them at risk of being returned to countries where they face harm.
Sunak has made the bill a centerpiece of Tory efforts to win upcoming parliamentary elections.
He argues the bill will act as a deterrent for people seeking to illegally enter the U.K., often by crossing the English Channel in dinghies in operations organized by smugglers. He's used the slogan “Stop the Boats” in his campaign to pass the deportation bill and win reelection.
The deadly reality of boat crossings was made clear Tuesday: Five people, including a 7-year-old girl, died when a boat they were in capsized in the early morning. French coast guard officials said the boat was carrying 110 people when it turned over.
Sunak called the incident “tragic” and said it underscored the need for the Rwanda plan.
In comments to reporters, he called the incident a “reminder of why our plan is so important” and pledged the Rwanda bill would “prevent people making these very dangerous crossings.”
Last November, Britain's Supreme Court found the scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda unlawful. Its ruling was in line with a June 2022 decision by the European Court of Human Rights that blocked the first flights to Rwanda from taking off.
Judges found the policy incompatible with Britain's international obligations because Rwanda could forcibly return migrants to places where they could face persecution.
In knocking down the Rwanda scheme, the Supreme Court based its decision on evidence that a similar scheme between Israel and Rwanda resulted in people who should have been given asylum getting expelled. Israel sent asylum seekers to Rwanda between 2013 and 2018.
Since the November ruling, the British government has amended the law in a fashion they say will pass legal muster. Most importantly, the law allows challenges if an asylum seeker faces a “real, imminent and foreseeable risk of serious irreversible harm if removed to Rwanda.”
Legal fights are a certainty and lawyers said they were gearing up to challenge deportations on a case-by-case basis.
Italy is moving ahead with a similar plan to send asylum-seekers who reach its shores for processing in Albania. This scheme too has been attacked as inhumane and illegal; human rights lawyers have vowed to challenge it.
British officials said they planned to first send migrants with weak asylum claims starting in July.
Home Secretary James Cleverly called the bill's passage a “landmark moment in our plan to stop the boats.”
“The act will prevent people from abusing the law by using false human rights claims to block removals,” he said in a video posted on social media. “And it makes clear that the U.K. parliament is sovereign, giving government the power to reject interim blocking measures imposed by European courts.”
Denisa Delić, the director of advocacy at International Rescue Committee UK, called the bill “an ineffective, unnecessarily cruel and costly approach.”
“Rather than outsourcing its responsibilities under international law, we urge the government to abandon this misguided plan and instead focus on delivering a more humane and orderly immigration system at home,” Delić said.
The Rwanda deal will cost vast sums to carry out. The National Audit Office has said it will cost $2.2 million for each of the first 300 deportees, according to the Guardian newspaper.
Yvette Cooper, opposition Labour's shadow home secretary, called the scheme “an extortionately expensive gimmick.”
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
