British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed on Monday that plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda will be implemented “no matter what,” referring to the legislative delays in Parliament that prevented the passage of the controversial bill.
During a press conference in his office at his residence in Downing Street in London, where he presented the means the government used to organize the deportations of irregular migrants, the Prime Minister said that the flights “will take off no matter what.
In his statements, which came before a crucial day in Parliament during which the bill could be adopted, Sunak said, “Enough is enough. Enough of more evasion, enough of more delays. There are no exceptions or reservations. These flights will go to Rwanda no matter what happens.
Bloomberg quoted Sunak as saying, The first flight will leave within 10 to 12 weeks, and this date is later than we wanted. The government relies on this policy to deter irregular migrants from sailing in small boats to the southern shores of the United Kingdom across the English Channel from northern France.
After the House of Lords members repeatedly returned the bill to the House of Commons for amendment, they eventually agreed not to introduce any additional amendments to the text, allowing it to be passed. With its approval in both chambers of Parliament, the draft law will enter into force as soon as the King ratifies it.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the ruling Conservative Party sought to pass this text to force judges to consider Rwanda, located in East Africa, a safe third country. Sunak’s government is under increasing pressure to reduce the record number of asylum seekers crossing the English Channel from the French coast on small boats.
The new legislation allows ministers to ignore parts of international and British human rights law. Care4Calais, a charity that supports asylum seekers, described the plan as a cruel and impractical “trick.”
Sunak resorted to approving this legislation in response to a ruling issued by the Supreme Court last year, in which it considered that sending asylum seekers to Rwanda violated international law.
The National Audit Office estimates that deporting the first 300 migrants would cost the UK £540 million ($665 million), the equivalent of about £2 million per person. Sunak confirmed that the government has prepared an airport and reserved commercial charter planes for the first flight.
The Prime Minister pledged that the government would organize regular flights to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda during the summer and after “until the boats” arriving in the United Kingdom with asylum seekers on board stop.
While Rwanda, with a population of 13 million, considers itself among the most stable African countries, human rights groups accuse its president, Paul Kagame, of ruling in a climate of intimidation and suppression of opposition and freedom of expression.
More than 12,000 people have crossed the Channel on primitive boats since 2018, when the government began counting the numbers, and dozens of them died, according to supervisory authorities.
