LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday promised to start deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda in coming months as part of a plan to deter arrivals that has sparked controversy, AFP reported.
Sunak told a Downing Street press conference, hours before parliament was set to approve a key part of the proposal, that the government was ready, plans were in place and the flights would go and come what may.
The prime minister said that it was imperative to deter record numbers of asylum seekers crossing the Channel to England from France in small vessels and has made it a key pillar of his Conservative Party’s pitch to voters, AFP reported.
Criticism of Rwanda Deportation Plan
Care4Calais, a charity that supports asylum seekers, declared the plan an unworkable and cruel “gimmick”. The new bill compels judges to regard the east African country as a safe third nation and gives ministers the power to disregard sections of international and British human rights law.
Rishi Sunak said that parliament would finally pass into law a bill about the safety of Rwanda for asylum seekers later on Monday following several weeks of legislative to-and-fro between its two chambers.
“Enough is enough. No more prevarication. No more delay,” Sunak said, adding that he envisaged “multiple” flights a month over the summer months.
The British PM said the government has put an airfield on standby and has booked commercial charter planes for the first flight. He pledged a “regular rhythm” of multiple flights across the summer and beyond “until the boats have stopped”.
More than 120,000 people have crossed the Channel on rudimentary vessels since 2018, when the government started recording numbers, and dozens have died, according to monitors.
