Janice R. Andrews
The House of Lords in the United Kingdom has bravely voted to postpone the contentious proposal to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, defying Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. On Monday, the unelected upper chamber made a statement by voting 214 to 171 to delay the ratification of a treaty between Kigali and London until the administration can demonstrate that Rwanda is a secure country for asylum seekers.
Sunak has been pressuring members of the House of Lords to back his plan, which he says embodies the desire of the people, but the chamber has stood its ground by raising concerns about the safety of the intended deportations.
Although the House of Lords lacks the power to completely stall the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, its decision might cause the legislation to be delayed for up to a year, which would be a major obstacle to Sunak’s immigration plan.
This comes after the bill narrowly passed the more powerful House of Commons on Wednesday. A number of Conservative Members of Parliament had expressed their intention to vote against the government, claiming that the law was not strong enough to withstand future legal challenges.
Seeking a resurgence in power in this year’s much-awaited general election, Rishi Sunak has made the divisive immigration scheme a centrepiece of his political platform. By enabling the government to override particular parts of human rights laws, the bill seeks to make it more difficult for judges to challenge the deportation programme to Rwanda. Additionally, it gives the House of Commons the authority to proclaim, by majority vote, that Rwanda is a secure country for people seeking asylum.
The UK Supreme Court’s decision from the previous year, which questioned the security of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, served as the impetus for the legislation. With a goal of “stopping the boats” from crossing the English Channel, Sunak is eager to start deporting people in the coming months.
The Rwanda proposal was first suggested by former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2022, with the intention of refusing asylum to anyone who arrive through “irregular means.”
Nevertheless, a last-minute intervention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) forced the cancellation of the first flight from the UK to Rwanda in June of that year. According to the ECHR, there was a “real risk of irreversible harm” for one of the asylum seekers on board in the country of East Africa. The deportation plan is controversial, and the ongoing argument over it has become even more difficult with the latest judgement made by the House of Lords.
