Abuse of the UK asylum system is “turning our seas into graveyards,” as Suella Braverman informed members of parliament. As a result of a ruling by the Court of Appeal, the government can no longer implement its intentions to deport Rwandan asylum applicants. The organization that filed the challenge is happy with the decision, but the government says it plans to appeal. A representative from Asylum Aid stated that Thursday’s ruling was “a vindication of the importance of the rule of law and basic fairness.”
In an effort to reduce the number of people who cross the English Channel in flimsy boats, the UK government proposed a plan in April 2022 to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda. Several legal challenges have been filed against it, with the most recent being from the Court of Appeal, which determined that Rwanda had not established sufficient protections to prove it is a “safe third country.” Two of the three judges agreed that returning asylum seekers to their home countries was a real possibility if they were transported to Rwanda.
This indicates that the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture, is being violated by UK immigration policy. Ms. Braverman emphasized that this in no way reflected the overall security situation in Rwanda. In her address to the House of Commons, the Home Secretary said that while she accepted the ruling, she found it “disappointing” and that the government will be appealing the decision. Ms. Braverman has stated that people who “play by the rules” and the local communities suffer as a result of those who “abuse” the asylum system.
It “incentivizes mass flows of economic migration into Europe, lining the pockets of people smugglers and turning our seas into graveyards, all in the name of a phoney humanitarianism,” she said. The government’s Rwanda plan is “completely unraveling,” according to Shadow Secretary Yvette Cooper, who also called it “unworkable, unethical, and extortionately expensive.” “This is their chaos, their Tory chaos, the chaos of the boats, and their broken asylum system,” she remarked. The government of Rwanda claims it is “one of the safest countries in the world” and has been praised for its “exemplary treatment of refugees.”
