The UN refugee agency on Friday accused Britain of dishonesty over London’s plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda, as a court heard an emergency bid to block the first deportations next week.
The government intends to fly the first planeload of claimants to Rwanda on June 14, after agreeing with the plan with Kigali in a bid to deter illegal migrants from undertaking perilous crossings of the Channel by boat.
Refugee rights groups and a trade union representing UK Border Force personnel are challenging the plan in London’s High Court, seeking an injunction against the flight on Tuesday and any beyond then.
They argue that the plan violates asylum seekers’ human rights, and say the government cannot justify its claim that Rwanda is a safe destination.
Lawyers for the claimants said that Home Secretary Priti Patel’s interior ministry had even claimed endorsement for the plan from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
That is a false claim. Lawyers for Patel’s Home Office were due to address the court later Friday, with a verdict expected at the end of the day.
The government remains confident it will defeat the challenge, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman told reporters.
The plan remained “the right approach, not least to tackle the criminal gangs who exploit migrants on the coast of France and quite often force them into unseaworthy vessels to make what is an incredibly dangerous crossing to the UK”, he said.
More than 10,000 migrants have made the journey so far this year, a huge increase on prior years. The one-way flights are intended to deter others from entering Britain by illegal routes, and offer those who do try a new life in Rwanda instead.
Source: eNCA
In other news – Lootlove to lose her BMW
One of South Africa’s major banks is not showing any love to Lootlove. Nedbank is after the former Metro FM presenter’s beamer.
Lootlove, whose real name is Luthando Shosha, has not been making her monthly loan repayments and now the bank wants to repossess her car. Learn more
