UK: Rwanda Deportation Plan Ruled Lawful

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Facts

  • After being blocked in June by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the UK's controversial plan to deport migrants to Rwanda was ruled legal on Monday by London's High Court. The policy, announced in April, will send tens of thousands of migrants to the African nation.
  • Lord Justice Lewis stated that the program was "consistent with the refugee convention," but added that the cases of the first few asylum-seekers set for deportation needed to be reconsidered by home secretary Suella Braverman before flights take off.
  • The deal with Rwanda made by former PM Boris Johnson's government is aimed at deterring migrants who journey to the UK via small boats, and forces migrants to pursue their asylum claims in Rwanda. Despite the ECHR's injunction, PM Rishi Sunak's government retained the conservative party's goal of implementing the program.
  • In return for Rwanda processing the asylum claims, the UK says it will invest £120M ($127M) into the economic development and growth of the central African country, as well as funding for asylum operations, accommodation, and integration similar to that incurred by Britain for such services.
  • While Labor party and Liberal Democrats have denounced the program, Kigali welcomed the UK High Court's ruling, calling the deal Rwanda's contribution to providing both "innovative" and "long-term solutions" to tackling the global migration crisis.
  • The government's attempts to deter illegal immigration come as the UK has faced a record of over 40k migrants this year from France, many of whom originally journeyed from war-torn Afghanistan and Iran, among others.

Sources: Reuters, Sky News, Africa News, Telegraph India, and New Times.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by Amnesty. This latest ruling not only wrongly interprets international refugee law and ignores migrants' rights to seek protection in the UK, but it approves a deal to send vulnerable people to a nation with its own asylum and human rights violations. British taxes will now be wasted on a cruel, expensive and devastatingly ineffective deportation scheme. This is a damaging distraction from truly combating criminal gangs.
  • Right narrative, as provided by The Spectator (UK). This program offers a real chance to end a crisis that many Britons on the left and right have grown to agree on. Since migrants likely won't want to pay thousands of pounds for a trip just to be sent back later, the Rwandan deal could not only see successful deportations now but a stoppage in future attempts to enter the UK illegally.