Court refuses to stop UK from deporting migrants to Rwanda

London, June 14 (BNA): The British government’s plan to deport asylum seekers of different nationalities to Rwanda is set to go ahead after the Court of Appeal on Monday refused to block a policy that the UN’s top refugee official said sets a dangerous precedent for Rwanda. Migrants fleeing war and oppression.

Immediately after the decision by a three-judge panel of the London Court of Appeal, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said the first deportation flight would go ahead as scheduled on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

Migrant advocacy groups have attacked the policy as inhumane and illegal since April, when Johnson announced the plan as a way to deter people from risking their lives by paying smugglers to take them to Britain in leaky rubber boats.

Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, criticized the policy as “all wrong”.

Grande said after the ruling that if the British government was really interested in protecting lives, it should work with other countries to target people smugglers and provide safe routes for asylum seekers, not just move migrants to other countries.

“The precedent set by this is disastrous for a concept that must be shared, such as asylum,” he told reporters in Geneva.

Monday’s ruling focused on the narrow question of whether a temporary injunction should be issued preventing deportation flights to Rwanda while the issue challenging the policy’s legality moves to the courts.

A coalition of immigration rights advocates and public servants’ unions have asked the Court of Appeal to overturn a lower court ruling, arguing that the judge made a mistake when he decided on Friday not to issue an injunction.

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But the appeals court dismissed the case, saying the judge had appropriately balanced the cases before him. Under UK law, a court must find strong evidence that a government policy is likely to be found illegal before it can issue a temporary injunction.

More legal challenges are underway. A similar case brought by lawyers representing a different group of plaintiffs was heard in the Supreme Court on Monday.

While there is major precedent at stake, the number of people directly affected by cases has been steadily reduced as lawyers challenge the merits of each deportation order. The charity Care4Calais said all but eight of the 31 migrants originally reported to be on the Rwanda-bound flight, had their tickets cancelled.

Reza Hussain, an immigration lawyer, said on Monday that the government’s plan includes forcibly removing asylum seekers to a country they do not want to travel to as part of a policy aimed at deterring others from trying to enter Britain. .

In documents he submitted to the court, he said, “This amounts, from any viewpoint, to a serious interference with basic dignity… as these individuals are already experiencing significant trauma and mental health problems.”

The court cases came amid a bitter political debate over Johnson’s deportation plan.

Migrants deported under the program will be forced to apply for asylum in Rwanda, not Britain. The UK paid Rwanda 120 million pounds ($158 million) up front and will make additional payments based on the number of people deported.

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The leadership of the English Church joined the opposition, and sent a joint letter to the London newspaper The Times to be published on Tuesday.

“Whether or not the first deportation flight left Britain today for Rwanda, this policy should shame us as a nation,” the letter read. “Shame is ours, because our Christian heritage should inspire us to deal with asylum seekers with compassion, fairness and justice, as we have done for centuries.”

According to newspaper reports, Prince Charles has also fought in the case. At the weekend, citing an unidentified source, the newspaper reported that the heir to the throne described Rwanda’s policy as “appalling”. Charles’ office declined to comment, while insisting that the Prince of Wales was politically neutral.

Johnson defended politics.

“I think most people can see that the criminal gangs … need to stop,” he said. “This model needs frustration.

He also denied the importance of legal challenges.

“I’ve always said it’s going to start with a lot of teething problems and you’re going to have a lot of legal action against it and they’re going to try to delay it – that’s inevitable,” he said during a farm visit.






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