British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s latest initiative to send some migrants to Rwanda finally received approval from Parliament early Tuesday, hours after he announced deportation flights would commence in July.
The parliamentary deadlock that had hindered the legislation for two months was eventually resolved just after midnight when the unelected House of Lords “recognised the primacy” of the elected House of Commons and withdrew the last of its proposed amendments, paving the way for the bill to become law.
Earlier in the day, Sunak held an unusual morning press conference to urge the Lords to stop obstructing his crucial proposal to stem the flow of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, assuring that both houses of Parliament would stay in session until it was passed.
The legislative impasse was merely the latest obstacle delaying the implementation of a plan that has faced repeated setbacks from court rulings and opposition from human rights activists who argue it is illegal and inhumane. Migrant advocates have vowed to continue opposing it.
“For almost two years, our opponents have used every trick in the book to block progress and keep the boats coming,” Sunak told reporters Monday morning in London. “But enough is enough. No more hesitation, no more delay.”
The government intends to deport to Rwanda some of those who enter the United Kingdom illegally as a deterrent to migrants risking their lives in precarious, inflatable boats in the hope of claiming asylum once they arrive in Britain.
Europe’s highest rights body called on Britain to abandon the controversial plan after the measure passed through parliament.
“The United Kingdom government should refrain from removing people under the Rwanda policy and reverse the Bill’s effective infringement of judicial independence,” said the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, in a statement.
O’Flaherty expressed concern that the legislation “raises major issues about the human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law more generally”.
“I am concerned that the Rwanda Bill enables the implementation of a policy of removing people to Rwanda without any prior assessment of their asylum claims by the UK authorities in the majority of cases,” he said.
O’Flaherty also cautioned that the bill significantly restricts UK courts from fully and independently scrutinising “the issues brought before them”.
