UK passes contentious bill to send asylum seekers to Rwanda

After much debate, the UK parliament has finally approved a measure that would enable the government to deport asylum applicants to Rwanda so that the East African country will review their claims.

As MPs and activists attempted to overturn the legislation on the grounds of human rights, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s attempts were caught between resistance in the Houses of Parliament and challenges in the British courts.

However, activists and the UN opposed the bill’s passage. According to Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, “Protecting refugees requires all countries – not just those in neighboring crisis zones – to uphold their obligations.”

Amnesty International UK called the legislation “a stain on this country’s moral reputation” that “takes a hatchet to international legal protections for some of the most vulnerable people in the world.”

Sunak’s inability to implement the policy has caused considerable embarrassment, as the British government has sent millions of pounds to Rwanda to fund a scheme which to date has failed to deliver any results.

It is designed to deter irregular migration into the United Kingdom, particularly people traveling on illegal – and dangerous – small boats from France, arranged by criminal gangs.

In theory, the legislation will see some landing in the UK sent to Rwanda where their asylum claim will be considered.

Planes carrying people to that country are not expected to leave before mid-July. If their claim is accepted, they will stay in Rwanda. If it is declined, the bill says they cannot be deported by Rwanda to anywhere other than the UK, though it is unclear what would ultimately happen in this scenario.

Even with the bill passed, it is possible that the government will face legal challenges in the European Court of Human Rights, as the UK is still a signatory to the European Convention of Human Rights. The European court has previously barred it from sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The bill has suffered long delays because of attempts to amend it. A process colloquially known as “ping pong,” where the two parts of the UK’s parliament – the House of Commons and the House of Lords – send legislation back and forth, has been going on for months. Every time the House of Lords makes amendments to the bill, the House of Commons, where Sunak has a majority, must vote to remove them.

To date, the Rwanda policy has cost the British government £220 million ($274m), and that figure could rise to £600 million after the first 300 people have been sent to East Africa. That leaves Sunak open to criticism from both the left and the right, who can say not only that the policy violates international human rights law, but that it is expensive and ineffective.

The opposition Labour Party, currently expected to win at the next general election, has already said that it will scrap the policy should it come to power.