The British parliament approved on the night of Monday to Tuesday the highly controversial draft law on deportation to Rwanda of asylum seekers who entered irregularities in the United Kingdom.
Members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British parliament, had repeatedly returned the draft law to the House of Commons with amendments—a process described as “ping-pong” by the press—but ultimately agreed not to proceed with further amendments, which guarantees that it will come into force.
Britain’s Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak assured yesterday that his government is “ready” to begin deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks. The Tories are presenting the bill as an anti-irregular immigration measure and would see refugees and migrants, regardless of their origin, deported to Rwanda if they have entered the UK illegally, particularly by boat, crossing the English Channel.
The stakes were also electoral for Mr Sunak, in power for 18 months, as the Conservatives are reportedly heading for a heavy defeat at the next election.
“The flights will take off”, “we are ready”, insisted the prime minister yesterday, admitting that the goal he had set, for the flights to start in the spring, will not be met, but assuring that they will start “in ten to twelve weeks”, with in other words in July, and that there will be several such one-way flights each month. An agreement between London and Kigali provides for the payment of large sums of money to Rwanda for the reception of immigrants and refugees. The Supreme Court ruled the original bill illegal in November, however the text has since been amended.
The bill designates Rwanda as a safe third country and presents it as one of the most stable on the African continent.
Rwandan President Paul Kagami is often accused of ruling by imposing a climate of terror, stifling dissent and freedom of expression.
