The British government’s bill to deport migrants who arrived illegally to the UK to Rwanda is “incompatible” with the country’s human rights obligations, a British parliamentary committee warned on Monday. Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made this project the basis of his policy to combat illegal immigration and hopes to be able to implement it before the legislative elections scheduled for this year. In mid-January, he called “urgent national priority”. But this highly controversial bill, currently being debated in the House of Lords – the upper house of Parliament – this week, is criticized by both the head of the Anglican Church and the United Nations.

A parliamentary committee, made up of twelve members, Labor and Conservative from both houses of Parliament, judges the project in a report published on Monday. “fundamentally incompatible” with the UK’s human rights obligations. The bill was drafted in response to the British Supreme Court, which ruled that it was illegal to send migrants to Rwanda and ruled that the country could not be considered safe for them. Backed by a new treaty between London and Kigali, the text defines Rwanda as a safe third country and prevents the return of migrants to their countries of origin. The committee is particularly concerned about “the obligation of the courts to consider Rwanda as a “safe” country and the limitation of access to the courts to appeal decisions”.

The divided conservative party

Furthermore, it is not “Unclear” that immigrants deported to Rwanda may have “warranty” not be sent to a country where they could be persecuted. “Human rights are universal”, emphasizes the Commission. but the bill “undermines this essential principle by denying a particular group (deported migrants, editor’s note) the protections guaranteed by human rights laws”. With this project, public organizations would be “authorized to act in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights”the Commission warns.

“If the UK adopts legislation that fails to meet its own international human rights commitments, it will seriously damage its ability to influence other countries to respect international law.”, writes again in this report. The project divides even within the conservative party: elected officials criticized the text, while others called for tougher measures. The latter had tried in vain to modify it before its adoption by the deputies.