London wants to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda regardless of their origin. This violates human rights. But the government simply wants to suspend this if necessary.
A day after a new migration agreement was concluded between Britain and Rwanda, the Minister of State responsible for immigration, Robert Jenrick, resigned in London. With this measure he wanted to express his “strong disagreement with the direction of government policy on immigration,” Jenrick said Wednesday night on X (formerly Twitter).
The government had previously announced that it wanted to declare Rwanda a safe third country through an “emergency law” and thus allow deportations there.
The dispute has dragged on for months: In November, the British Supreme Court declared illegal a government agreement with Rwanda to deport asylum seekers and other migrants. The court had not classified Rwanda as a safe third country: it considered the agreement to be incompatible with Britain's international obligations because it was possible that Rwanda could deport people to regions where they would be at risk of persecution.
“Emergency law” introduced in parliament
But the British government expressly does not want to allow human rights to stop its controversial plans to deport asylum seekers. Immediately after the court ruling, London announced that it wanted to conclude a new agreement with Rwanda. This was signed by Home Affairs Minister James Cleverly in Kigali on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the government announced it wanted to introduce an “emergency law” in parliament on Thursday to declare Rwanda a safe third country. This law will be “historic”, wrote Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in X.
London wants to prevail against criticism from the Supreme Court
The Conservative Prime Minister is currently under strong domestic political pressure to limit immigration. The now announced resignation of Immigration Minister Jenrick is likely to further increase the pressure on Sunak.
An extraordinary quote from Home Secretary James Cleverly on the first page of the draft also caused a stir. He says that he cannot say whether the law is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The right wing of Sunak's Conservative Party is demanding that Britain withdraw from the ECHR so that international courts can no longer stop the project.
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