Rishi Sunak’s contentious plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has finally been approved by Parliament.
The Rwanda Bill was approved by the House of Commons in the early hours of Monday morning following hours of debate and months of political ‘ping-pong’ over the contentious proposals.
The prime minister acknowledged that he missed his initial deadline for launching deportation flights by the spring, but he surprised everyone at a press conference on Sunday by announcing that an airfield is on standby and that the first planes are set to depart within the next 10 to 12 weeks.
As the lengthy process proceeded, the legislation was repeatedly passed between the House of Commons and the Lords, with the Conservatives losing several crucial votes and amendments. Peers repeatedly blocked the Bill with a series of amendments, extending the debate on the ’emergency legislation’ for over four months and delaying flights carrying people to Rwanda.
The government has promised to extend Parliament’s session to pass the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill.
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Both MPs and Peers worked late into the night as they moved the legislation between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and even a brief power outage in the Lords could not halt the heated debate.
Rishi Sunak believes that the legislation, which Human Rights Watch has labeled ‘hazardous and ‘authoritarian,’ is essential to his plan to prevent asylum seekers from crossing the English Channel.
According to Denisa Delić, Director of Advocacy at the International Rescue Committee UK, ‘Irrespective of today’s passage of the Safety of Rwanda Bill, sending refugees to Rwanda is an ineffective, unnecessarily cruel and costly approach.’
Rather than delegating its obligations under international law, we urge the government to abandon this misguided plan and instead establish a more humane and structured immigration system within the country.
‘This includes expanding safe channels like family reunification and resettlement while upholding the right to seek refuge. Sending refugees to Rwanda or any other location will never be a viable solution.’
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