This development is a painful defeat for the Prime Minister of the country Boris Johnson, who until now promised the deportation of refugees to Rwanda in an attempt to discourage their arrival in the United Kingdom.
The Conservative government under Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a humiliating defeat yesterday: despite its determination to deport refugees to Rwanda as part of its efforts to discourage the arrival of illegal immigrants in the UK, the first scheduled flight evening, was canceled, following a last resort appeal.
With its controversial plan to send asylum seekers illegally arriving in Britain to the East African country more than 6,000 kilometers from London, Mr Johnson’s government claims it will curb rising Channel crossings, which have not stopped growing. despite her repeated assurances that she would bring immigration under control after Brexit.
The plan, which has been widely criticized by the United Nations, is popular with the Tory electorate, according to opinion polls, and Mr Johnson wanted to get it back on track after a recent insurgency that nearly toppled him.
However, following appeals and an urgent ruling by the Council of Europe’s European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the specially hired aircraft remained stranded on the ground for hundreds of thousands of euros.
“Disappointment”
The overthrow “disappointed” Interior Minister Priti Patel, who succeeded against the ECtHR.
“I have said from the beginning that this policy will not be easy to implement and I am disappointed that legal disputes and last-minute demands have prevented the flight from taking off,” Patel said last night.
The minister described the ECtHR’s intervention as a “big surprise”, despite “our repeated successes in the national courts”, and said that the migrants who were not deported yesterday would board “the next” such flight.
“Nothing will discourage us from doing what is right and implementing our plan to control our borders,” he said, adding that the British government’s legal advisory team was “examining every decision” flight and that “preparation for the next one begins now”.
The Johnson administration was to deport up to 130 refugees and migrants (Iranians, Iraqis, Albanians, Syrians) on the first flight, but the number was reduced due to various individual appeals.
And, proceeding with a last-minute reversal, the ECtHR yesterday prevented the expulsion of an Iraqi asylum seeker, with its urgent decision. Relieving human rights organizations that denounce the government’s plan, which they say is cruel and inhumane.
“Attack”
The Strasbourg-based ECtHR has ruled that the deportation of Iraqis must be postponed until a British court has ruled on the constitutionality of the bill, which is expected in July. In particular, guarantees must be provided that migrants and refugees have access to fair proceedings in Rwanda and that Rwanda is considered a safe country.
In Rwanda, where President Paul Kagami has ruled since the end of the 1994 genocide, when 800,000 people were killed, according to the UN, the government is often criticized by NGOs for suppressing freedom of expression, criticism and political dissent.
Refugee advocacy groups welcomed the decision, such as the Refugee Council, which took to Twitter to express “enormous relief”.
“Now we must prepare to resist the Conservatives’ full-blown offensive against the ECtHR, which is certain to be unleashed,” warned Nicholas Sturgeon, Scotland’s prime minister and leader of supporters of Scottish independence.
According to the conservative newspaper The Telegraph, the British government may consider withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights in order to implement its policy, despite criticism from various quarters, including the Church of England – and even and Prince Charles, according to The Times.
“Thousands of immigrants”
Waiting, defeat is painful for the government. The Metro and The Mirror newspapers saw a “masquerade”, the center-left The Guardian spoke of “chaos”.
In Calais (northern France), where many of the people hoping to settle in England leave, the British government’s plan does not discourage immigrants.
Under the agreement with Kigali, London will initially allocate 120 million pounds (140 million euros). The Rwandan government assures that it will propose to the immigrants to consider “settling permanently”.
During a press conference in Kigali, government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo assured that Rwanda would be “happy” to welcome “thousands of migrants”.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 10,000 migrants have crossed the Channel illegally in small boats to reach the British coast; their number may break a new record this year. Several hundred arrived in the country in the last days and yesterday morning.
