Index – Abroad – The British Parliament has decided to resettle illegal immigrants in Rwanda

The government of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson concluded an agreement with Rwanda in April 2022 that the British authorities could resettle asylum seekers arriving in boats organized by human traffickers from the European continent to the Central African country.

Johnson argued at the time that Rwanda was safe resettlement destination country , and the plan – due to its deterrent effect – is also suitable for making the business model of human traffickers impossible. However, the British Supreme Court declared the plan illegal last November.

According to the decision of the highest British legal forum, the agreement did not eliminate the risk that asylum seekers resettled from Great Britain would be deported by the Rwandan government back to the countries from which they fled, or to other countries where they could be subject to rights violations or persecution.

In order to circumvent this order, the government of the current British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, developed a plan that

The law that has just been adopted thus effectively removes the jurisdiction of the courts to determine whether the African country is considered safe for the resettled.

Press conference with a passionate tone

The draft was already accepted by the lower house in January. However, the debate has continued in the London parliament ever since, after the House of Lords – where the ruling Conservative Party does not have a majority – kept adding amendments to the motion that the government did not support.

The draft law has traveled back and forth between the two chambers eight times since January. According to the regulations of British parliamentarism, a motion can only become a law if the two houses reach a consensus on the text of the draft.

However, after the lower house voted the amendments attached to the draft by the upper chamber out of the legal text, the House of Lords decided by a unanimous decision to close the debate and no longer insist on amending the government’s motion.

Before the final day of debate, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in an impassioned press conference, called on the House of Lords not to delay the implementation of the Rwandan resettlement plan for asylum seekers coming to Britain illegally.

The airport is on standby

According to the MTI report, Sunak said, without naming the location: the government has already put an airport on standby, chartered commercial charter flights and trained five hundred people to accompany those to be resettled to Rwanda.

According to the prime minister, the first flights can take off in 10-12 weeks, and planes will depart for Rwanda several times a month, “continually until the boats are stopped.”

He said the British government was fighting brutal, global human-trafficking gangs and these organizations had no interest in putting lives at risk when they sent unseaworthy boats to Britain. Rishi Sunak said: so far this year, nine people have lost their lives while trying to cross, including a seven-year-old girl.

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