Deportation of migrants to Rwanda in Supreme Court

LThe United Kingdom’s High Court has ruled since Monday over the Conservative government’s plan to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda, a highly controversial move aimed at discouraging illegal immigration.

The British government has made the fight against illegal immigration a priority and has promised to stop migrant boats crossing the Channel.

Deporting migrants to Rwanda, a signatory to the London Convention, is being touted by the government as a key step towards achieving this goal, but the plan has been blocked by the courts.

In mid-2022, the first flight was canceled after the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

At the end of June, the Court of Appeal in London ruled the plan “illegal”, finding that Rwanda could not be considered a “safe third country”.

“There is a real risk that those sent to Rwanda will be returned to their home country subjected to torture and other inhumane treatment,” the court said.

Undeterred, the government appealed to the Supreme Court, repeating that Rwanda was a “safe country”. The trial, before five judges, is scheduled to take place over three days.

Rishi Sunak’s government will eagerly await the decision, which should be delivered in several weeks.

With parliamentary elections due in January 2025, the Conservatives are far behind the Labor opposition.

“too expensive”

The government continues to toughen its rhetoric on illegal immigration. In July, London passed a law banning migrants who came to the UK illegally from seeking asylum regardless of the reasons that prompted them to leave their country.

The UN condemned the law as inconsistent with international law and expressed concern that “other countries, including Europe” would be tempted to follow this path.

In September, British Home Secretary Suella Braverman, on the far right, attacked the Geneva Convention, which has defined refugee status since 1951, ruling that it was “not adapted to our modern times”. She continues to attack the ECHR.

On Tuesday, at the Conservative Party Congress, he warned of a coming “migration hurricane”, accusing the Labor opposition of wanting to “open the borders”.

He raised fears of “millions” of extra migrants arriving on British shores, an “uncontrolled and unmanageable” flow unless the government in power acts “decisively” next year.

Since January, more than 25,000 migrants have crossed the canal. The government is proud to have been able to begin the decline in 2022, after a record year, with more than 45,000 crossings in twelve months.

But the number of asylum seekers awaiting a decision from British authorities reached a new record at the end of June: 175,457 people were awaiting an initial decision on their application, or 43% more than a year earlier.

On Friday, Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, head of the post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia party, called on European countries to act urgently against the “moral crisis” posed by illegal immigration at a joint forum.

They wrote that it was a “European crisis” because “European countries should decide who comes to Europe, not smugglers and traffickers”.

Opposition Leader Keir Starmer said on Sunday he would reconsider plans to deport migrants to Rwanda if he becomes prime minister.

“It’s not the right policy, it’s too expensive,” he told the BBC. He pledged to work with other countries to “take down the criminal gangs involved in the nefarious business” of migrant smuggling.

09/10/2023 04:50:37 – London (AFP) – © 2023 AFP

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