Human rights advocates have hailed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement that he will not be carrying out the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda, which was a long-overdue policy.
“The Rwanda plan was doomed to failure even before it took root. Following his Labour Party’s resounding victory in the general election, Starmer said at his first press conference on Saturday that “it’s never been a deterrent.”
After a cabinet meeting, he told reporters, “I’m not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent,” calling the plan a “problem that we are inheriting.”
“Keir Starmer says the UK should abandon its plan to deport migrants from Rwanda.”
In April, the controversial law was approved by Parliament, overturning a previous UK Supreme Court decision that had declared the scheme illegal due to violations of human rights and designating Rwanda as a safe third country. In May, the authorities began holding people who applied for asylum.
The policy had been pushed by the then-prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who had pledged to stop migrants and asylum seekers from arriving from mainland Europe on small boats.
Human rights advocates and opponents of Sunak’s administration had denounced as barbaric the proposal to send individuals to Rwanda instead of processing asylum requests domestically.
They said asylum seekers ran the risk of being returned to dangerous countries and expressed concerns about the East African nation’s own record on human rights. However, in April, in response to criticism in the legislature, Sunak declared, “No ifs, no buts.” The destination of these flights is Rwanda.
Tens of thousands of asylum seekers have travelled dangerously across the English Channel in small boats, coordinated by people-smuggling gangs, to reach Britain in recent years. Many of them were fleeing wars and poverty in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
Starmer stated at his news conference on Saturday that it was generally anticipated that the Rwanda plan would fail. “Everyone, especially the gangs in charge of this, has realised that there was a very small chance of ever travelling to Rwanda—less than 1 percent,” he informed reporters. “The chances were of not coming, not getting processed, and ending up staying here for an extended period of time in paid accommodations.”
The head of Freedom from Torture, an organisation that assists refugees in the UK, Sonya Sceats, praised Starmer’s declaration. “This is an incredible triumph for advocates, asylum seekers, solicitors, and the countless numbers of individuals throughout this nation who joined the struggle against the horribly inhumane cash-for-human scheme,” she stated to Al Jazeera on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Amnesty International secretary-general Agnes Callamard urged the new Labour government to fulfil its pledge made during the campaign to renounce the Rwandan pact. Callmard stated on social media, “Our asylum system needs to be made to focus on delivering the security and certainty to which every refugee is entitled however they may arrive as fairly and efficiently as possible.”
This is “exactly as required by our international commitments, the rule of law, and fundamental respect for every human person,” the speaker continued. However, Suella Braverman, a staunch immigration conservative Conservative who may run against Sunak for party leader, disapproved of Starmer’s proposal.
She declared on Saturday that “millions of pounds, acts of Parliament, and years of hard work have been spent on a scheme which, had it been delivered properly, would have worked.” “Kier Starmer will, I fear, be the cause of the major issues that lie ahead.”
It’s also unclear what Starmer will do differently to address the migration crisis, given that the number of people entering the United Kingdom in the first half of the year was a record.
The Associated Press news agency was informed by Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London, that the Labour government will need to find a way to stop small boats from crossing the English Channel.
According to Freedom from Torture’s Scratches, international cooperation is a necessary component of any solution if the government is sincere about addressing the problem of forced migration. “We firmly believe that the incoming administration will reject the externalisation of refugee policy,” the spokesperson declared.
Apart from the Rwanda policy announcement, Rory Challands of Al Jazeera reported from London on Saturday afternoon, saying it’s still unclear what the composition of Starmer’s Labour government will be.
Challands referred to the press conference and said, “There was a lot of talk about change that the government is going to bring to British life and British politics.” Challands continued, “His central thesis is that the years of Conservative turmoil are over.” “And the nation will be treated first by the government in power, not the party that it comes from, for the first time in a long time.”
[Al Jazeera]
