In a significant move, the UK government published emergency legislation on Wednesday declaring Rwanda as a safe country for asylum seekers. The legislation forms part of a recent attempt to expedite their contentious deportation policy.
Promptly following the legislation’s release, the UK Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick resigned from his position. Jenrick expressed concerns that the bill did not provide solid assurance against potential legal challenges to the Rwanda policy.
The legislation, referred to as the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, demands all decision-makers, including courts, to recognise Rwanda as a safe country. The introduction of the bill came a day after Home Secretary James Cleverly signed a treaty with Rwanda permitting planes carrying deportees to depart for the African country.
The UK government has been striving to execute the Rwanda scheme since 2022. The scheme aims to deport “illegal” asylum seekers to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be assessed. The implementation hit a hurdle last month when the Supreme Court blocked the plan, ruling it as unlawful and announced Rwanda as not a safe country.
In response to the commotion, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak organized a press conference on Thursday morning to discuss the Rwanda plan proactively and the emergency legislation in the wake of Jenrick’s resignation. Sunak suggested that this new bill would counteract each rationale ever employed to hinder flights. He reaffirmed his previous assertion to not let the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg obstruct the flights to Rwanda.
Despite this, the bill has faced harsh criticism for suspending sections 2, 3, and 6 to 9 of the UK’s Human Rights Act 1998. The proposed legislation also nullifies “any other provision or rule of domestic law”, and “any interpretation of international law by the court or tribunal” as relevant to the Rwanda policy.
In a follow-up development, the Rwandan government threatened the UK government that it would withdraw from the treaty signed earlier this week if its actions do not conform to international law. Vincent Biruta, Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs, and International Cooperation, declared that “without lawful behaviour by the UK, Rwanda would not be able to continue with the Migration and Economic Development Partnership.”
The first parliamentary vote on this new legislation, claimed by Sunak as the “UK’s toughest immigration law,” is set to proceed on December 12.
This information was initially reported by the Jurist. For more details, please visit the original article here.