The Rwanda Plan is an affront to human rights; opposition must continue

JVL Introduction

After World War Two the countries of the world developed International Law so that something like the brutal Nazi Occupation and the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust would never “happen again. This included the importance of welcoming refugees fleeing threat and actual persecution.  The Rwanda Bill – now an Act awaiting only Royal Assent – is an affront to the work of the lawyers and politicians of that time – many of them Jewish, some who had experienced Occupation and some the Camps themselves.
Today we join with others who stand for the rights enshrined after those horrendous events in our continued opposition to the Rwanda Plans.  The government’s rejection of almost all the proposed amendments is an indication of a refusal to listen or be compassionate but instead to play to “the gallery”, to people who have been fed lies about “bogus” asylum seekers and “illegal immigrants”.  No person is illegal; no one gets on a dinghy to make a dangerous crossing if they are not fleeing greater danger.
And today five desperate people seeking asylum in supposedly tolerant Britain drowned in the English Channel. We need safe routes and a fair and compassionate asylum system, not more oppression for those seeking sanctuary.

Below is the notice from the Migration Coalition that introduces a Press Release from Care4Calais that includes short statements from several organisations we are proud to know that work tirelessly with and on behalf of refugees.
LL

From the Migration Coalition:

Dear friends, colleagues and comrades,

It’s a truly dark day as many of us awoke to the Rwanda Bill finally passing, although not without resistance from the House of Lords past the clocks striking midnight (here’s JCWI’s tweet breaking the news).

Thank you to those of you who signed our joint open letter to the Prime Minister expressing our shared outrage. Please find attached the final version of our open letter with 251 signatures, which you can also find online here . (full text also below, JVL) Many thanks to colleagues at Care4Calais who have also coordinated this joint press release which went out this morning (text below this email).

What just happened?

The Rwanda Bill has now concluded its parliamentary stages. There was only one amendment agreed – to ensure reporting on anti-trafficking measures in the Rwanda plan. The rest of the Bill – clauses ignoring international law and our Human Rights Act, forcing our courts and civil servants to ‘conclusively’ treat Rwanda as safe even when it’s not, severely limiting appeals and judicial remedies – remains intact.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this is truly unprecedented in many ways. A Government using legislation to magically declare a country safe, a Government overriding the Supreme Court, a Government so blatantly disregarding international and domestic law. And of course, offshoring, offloading, and ultimately absconding on the UK’s asylum responsibilities.

What’s next?

The Bill now awaits Royal Assent, after which it officially becomes law. Then the UK and Rwandan Governments will need to ratify the Treaty. The UK Government has said that they will only ratify the treaty if all the measures and safeguards in it are in place. But then again, the Prime Minister was boasting about a plane taking off in 10-12 weeks.

In the meantime, people subject to removal to Rwanda can expect to start getting communication from the Home Office with decisions that their asylum claim is inadmissible and that they will therefore be removed to Rwanda. The Bill/Act still allows for individual challenges so our lawyers – and others across the country – can expect to be very busy advising and representing people challenging removal. However, people will have very limited recourse and they may exhaust all domestic remedies quickly.

What then?

The Government loves talking about the ‘foreign court’ (that somehow the UK is also part of). Individuals subject to removal can file a claim to the European Court of Human Rights and apply for an interim measure to stay their removal (which is what happened last time in summer 2022). However, the Rwanda Bill/Act – like the Illegal Migration Act before it – allows ministers to ignore such rulings. The Government have threatened to do this many times, but actually going through with it would be unprecedented, and a breach of international law.

While legal challenges are underway, we will also keep fighting in our communities. Keep an eye out for campaigns against flights taking off, and we can expect direct action and interventions on the ground as well.

Whether flights will really take off in 10-12 weeks will depend hugely on the fight that we’re embarking on now. We stopped the flight in 2022, and I fully believe we can do it again.

But that’s not it

Unfortunately, there is another threat on the horizon, which is the Rwanda voluntary departure scheme. A document that made its way to journalists on Monday confirmed what we had been suspecting, that the Government aims to send people to Rwanda under the voluntary departure scheme using seats on commercial flights before any flights under the Rwanda Bill/Act will take off (to jog your memory, this is the £3,000 bribe they have been peddling to people without ensuring they have legal advice or even translation/interpretation). So we also will need to remain vigilant for any removals under this scheme.

We know this Bill/Act is not only horrific, it’s also deeply unpopular and people across the country will be horrified at this being passed in their name. In the face of a Government intent on abusing its powers, endangering people’s lives, violating international law and human rights, and destroying democratic checks and balances, there is only one response: resist. We have won before, and we will win again.

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PRESS RELEASE: CARE4CALAIS

251 organisations write to the PM expressing outrage at the Rwanda Bill

An open letter, signed by over 250 organisations from across civil society in the UK, has been sent to the Prime Minister following the passage of the Government’s Rwanda Act.

The civil society organisations have come together to make a stand against the Government’s Rwanda Plan, which they say breaks international law and “abandons our duty to share in the global responsibility towards those forced to seek safety”.

The Rwanda Act is described in the letter as “a shameful and performatively cruel law that will risk people’s lives”, whilst the UK Government is accused of rewriting facts following the UK Supreme Court’s ruling that Rwanda is not a safe country in which to send refugees.

The letter has been signed by charities, human rights organisations, organisations supporting children, women, LGBTQ+, and disabled communities, and faith groups.

Signatures across the refugee sector include the Refugee Council, JCWI, Jesuit Refugee Service UK, Detention Action, Refugee Action, Freedom from Torture and Care4Calais.

Other high profile signatories include Oxfam GB, Human Rights Watch, Children’s Rights Alliance for England and Disability Rights UK.

Yasmin Halima, Executive Director, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), said:

“At a time when our politicians should be focused on supporting struggling communities and protecting our NHS, they have instead sat in parliament, and decided to tear up our commitment towards refugees, in shameful and unprecedented ways.

“This Act of performative cruelty does nothing to improve anyone’s lives. It simply punishes people in most need, by allowing the government to forcibly expel people who’ve fled danger, including children & survivors of trafficking, to a place they’ve never been, where they could face further abuse.

“Most of us recognise this desperate act of political theatre for what it is, and urge the government to stop relentlessly attacking refugees, and focus on creating a fairer and more caring society.”

James Wilson, Director of Detention Action, said:

“With this Act, this government has turned its back on reality, as well as on our responsibility to protect refugees.

“People seeking asylum here should have their claims heard in the UK, fairly and efficiently, so they are not returned to danger and can, instead, rebuild their lives in our communities.”

Steve Smith, CEO of Care4Calais, said:

“People who have survived war, torture and persecution should not be facing forced removal to a country that the UK Supreme Court ruled is unsafe.

“This Bill does nothing to make Rwanda a safe country for refugees. All the problems with Rwanda’s asylum system, including, for example, the fact they haven’t granted refugee status to the single largest nationality claiming asylum in the UK, Afghans, remain. Politicians are playing fast and loose with the future of human beings, and it must be stopped.”

Sarah Teather, Director at Jesuit Refugee Service UK, added:

“The Safety of Rwanda Bill is as inhumane as it is absurd. Its passage into law is another step towards enacting a cash-for-humans scheme that will destroy lives and plunge vulnerable people into danger.

“The point of this Bill is simply to pretend, in the face of all the evidence, that such danger doesn’t exist. It marks a continued abandonment of our duty towards people seeking sanctuary here. We call on politicians to scrap the cruel Rwanda plan and all attempts to outsource asylum. This is not who we are.”

ENDS

Open Letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the Rwanda Bill/Act

Dear Prime Minister,

We write to express our shared outrage at the passage of the misleadingly named ‘Safety of Rwanda Act’. This is a shameful and performatively cruel law that will risk people’s lives and betray who we are as a society. We all want to be safe – and we want that safety for each other, too. As a country, we are proud to uphold our responsibility to support refugees. Given the chance,
communities across our country go the extra mile to welcome those in need. The wider public do not support the Rwanda plan.1
But this law would enable the Government to forcibly expel people seeking asylum – including children and survivors of trafficking and modern slavery – despite concerns they could be put at grave risk of harm and human rights abuses. The Rwanda plan will force
people who have fled violence and persecution into detention centres where they may face abuse and mistreatment, with no time limit. They will then be removed to a country to which they have no connection, despite our country’s Supreme Court ruling that it is
unsafe for them. Through this law, the Government will put them at grave risk of mental and physical harm, and of being returned to danger in the countries they fled.

Despite the clear ruling from the Supreme Court, the Government is rewriting the facts so they can shirk our responsibilities to refugees. In doing so, the Government would break international law and further shatter the UK’s commitment to justice and the rule
of law. While this is a targeted attack on refugees and migrants, an attack on one group’s rights is an attack on all of us.
Outsourcing our asylum system to other countries is never acceptable. It abandons our duty to share in the global responsibility towards those forced to seek safety. Instead of continuing down this dangerous path, the Government must guarantee that asylum
claims will be heard fairly on our shores, and open safe routes so that people are not forced to take dangerous journeys.
As organisations working towards a better future for all, we believe in kindness and compassion. The Government must listen to the people, abandon this deplorable deal with Rwanda and similar plans with other countries, and protect those who need
sanctuary.

1 British Future / Focaldata poll, published 17 March 2024: “Only 24 per cent of the public think the government should try to get the Rwanda Bill through in its current form” ( , Less than a quarter of the public back Rwanda Bill in current form, poll finds – Politics.co.uk Politics.co.uk, 18 March 2024)

Signed by 251 civil society organisations (so far),  for full list of signatories see here