UK publishes emergency bill to allow deportation plan to Rwanda | Immigration news

Britain’s immigration minister has resigned after the government published a bill declaring Rwanda a safe country for migrant deportation schemes.

The UK’s ruling Conservative Party is in disarray after the government published emergency legislation aimed at allowing a controversial deportation plan to Rwanda to go ahead.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s position appeared weak on Wednesday after Immigration Secretary Robert Jenrick resigned over “strong differences with the direction” of the government’s immigration policy.

The “Rwanda Safety Bill” aims to overcome a ruling by the UK Supreme Court on November 15, which found that the government’s proposed plan to send thousands of asylum seekers and migrants to the East African country was illegal.

The bill, which deems Rwanda a safe country and is set to move quickly through the House of Commons, overrides some sections of the Human Rights Act (HRA) and “any other provision or rule of domestic law, and any interpretation of international law.” By the court or tribunal.”

The proposed legislation would also give courts the ability to ignore any injunction from the European Court of Human Rights to block flights.

Sunak has promoted the emergency law, saying it has allowed the deportation plan to no longer get stuck in the courts.

“Historic new emergency legislation will control our borders, preventing people from making risky journeys across the Channel [and] “Ending the constant legal challenges that fill our courts,” he wrote on X, previously Twitter.

“It is Parliament that should decide who comes to this country, not criminal gangs.”

In his resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Jenrick wrote that the proposed laws were “a triumph of hope over experience”.

“The risks to the country are too great for us not to seek the stronger protections required to end the spiral of legal challenges that threaten to paralyze the scheme and nullify its intended deterrent,” he wrote.

This was considered an indication of Sunak’s refusal to remove Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights.

The publication of the law comes a day after British Home Secretary James Cleverly signed a new treaty during a visit to the Rwandan capital, Kigali, which includes obligations related to the treatment of asylum seekers and other migrants who are sent there.

Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, who signed the bilateral treaty with Cleverley, said on Wednesday that any violation of global agreements could lead to Rwanda withdrawing from the agreement.

“Without lawful conduct by the UK, Rwanda will not be able to continue the migration and economic development partnership,” he said, referring to the controversial agreement.

The Rwanda plan lies at the heart of Sunak’s immigration policy, and its success is likely to be key to the fortunes of his Conservative Party, which is trailing by about 20 points in opinion polls, before the elections expected next year, as this issue is one of the biggest concerns. Concerns among voters

The Prime Minister, born to parents of Indian origin who immigrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s, pledged to begin flights in the spring of next year.

Britain signed an agreement in April 2022 under which some asylum seekers arriving in the United Kingdom will be sent across the English Channel on boats to Rwanda, where their asylum applications will be processed.

On 29 June 2022, the London Court of Appeal ruled that the policy was unlawful under British human rights law, which incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into British law. The first deportation flight to Rwanda was blocked by a last-minute injunction from the European Court of Human Rights on 14 June 2022.

The UK Supreme Court concluded last month that the UK is party to various conventions, including the Refugee Convention, which states that the Rwanda plan is unlawful, due to the potential for human rights violations in Rwanda or the refugees’ countries of origin.

The court said Rwanda was not safe for refugees, and people could only be sent to countries that followed the non-refoulement rule. The UN refugee agency has provided evidence that Kigali violated this rule in a deal with Israel.