Rights campaigners say ‘appalling’ pilot scheme treats those fleeing conflict and persecution as criminals
Refugee rights campaigners have described a new Home Office scheme to electronically tag asylum seekers as “appalling”, saying the move treats people fleeing conflict and persecution as criminals.
Under a 12-month pilot, which began on Wednesday, some people arriving in the UK in small boats or in the back of lorries will be electronically tagged.
Continue reading...Labour peer who is first black member of Order of the Garter says scheme threatens to undermine UK’s global standing
Sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is an “absolutely shameful” policy that threatens to undermine Britain’s potential to lead in a changing world, the Labour peer Valerie Amos has said.
Lady Amos, who this week became the first black member of the Order of the Garter, said the scheme “sends a message” to other countries about “how seriously we take our responsibilities” to the UN’s security council and charter on refugees.
Continue reading...Kigali government seeks to shift narrative with managed tours of processing facilities and accommodation for deportees
Rwanda has been caught in the eye of a British political storm this week, and its officials are not happy with how the country has been portrayed.
It was preparing to welcome asylum seekers on Tuesday until a dramatic 11th-hour ruling by the European court of human rights.
Continue reading...Decision by European court of human rights strengthens case for overhaul of UK laws, says deputy PM
A last-minute court ruling that prevented the first asylum seekers being forcibly removed to Rwanda was wrong and has strengthened the case for overhauling Britain’s human rights laws, Dominic Raab has said.
The deputy prime minister urged the European court of human rights (ECHR) to “respect the limits of its mandate”, though rejected calls from some Conservative MPs to cut ties with the Strasbourg-based body.
Continue reading...Asylum seekers at Gashora transit centre say they fear reaching UK and ending up where they started after torturous journey
Many have attempted perilous crossings across the Mediterranean to reach the UK in the past. But asylum seekers at Rwanda’s Gashora transit centre say they are now too scared to try again for fear of ending up back where they started.
Zemen Fesaha, 26, from Eritrea, arrived at the sprawling complex of accommodation and leisure facilities in July. The refugee camp, an hour and a half’s drive from Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, houses 249 men, 125 women, and 83 children, who were evacuated from squalid detention centres in Libya.
Continue reading...Downing Street refuses to rule out withdrawing from European convention on human rights after Yvette Cooper challenges Priti Patel over Rwanda
This is what Šefčovič said about the UK bill in his opening statement.
Let there be no doubt: there is no legal nor political justification whatsoever for unilaterally changing an international agreement.
Opening the door to unilaterally changing an international agreement is a breach of international law as well.
Continue reading...Thérèse Coffey says she is sure government will go back to European court of human rights over decision
The UK is likely to challenge the European court of human rights ruling that stopped the deportation to Rwanda of people seeking asylum and is already preparing for the next flight, a cabinet minister has said.
Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, played down the idea that the UK could withdraw from the European convention on human rights in response to the court’s decision, which halted the flight on Tuesday night.
Continue reading...First flight to Rwanda grounded after lawyers make successful emergency application
Boris Johnson’s plan to send an inaugural flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda has been abandoned after a dramatic 11th-hour ruling by the European court of human rights.
Up to seven people who had come to the UK seeking refuge had been expected to be removed to the east African country an hour and a half before the flight was due to take off.
Continue reading...‘Mentally exhausted’ expected deportees launched last-minute legal bids to avoid removal from UK
An Albanian asylum seeker and suspected victim of trafficking has told the Guardian he is in a “very bad mental state” as he expects to board a deportation flight to Rwanda, a country of which he knows “nothing”.
The 26-year-old Albanian man is one of seven asylum seekers who have launched last-minute legal challenges to avoid being forcibly flown to the east African country. Others include three Iranians, one Iraqi and one Vietnamese asylum seeker. All arrived in the UK on small boats in the middle of May.
Continue reading...Final remaining asylum seekers understood to have been taken off the flight following legal intervention
You can watch the Sturgeon press conference here.
Sturgeon is now taking questions.
Continue reading...Filippo Grandi says foreign secretary is wrong to claim critics had not offered alternatives
Liz Truss has been accused by the UN’s refugee chief of making “untrue” statements after claiming that critics of the UK government’s Rwandan removals policy have failed to come up with alternative policies.
Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said the foreign secretary was wrong because the UN had offered “many, many suggestions” instead of sending people to the east African state, which he said “violates the fundamental principles of refugees”.
Continue reading...Court of appeal judges have rejected a last-ditch legal bid to block a flight due to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda on Tuesday
Q: Your Northern Ireland protocol plan is holed below the water line because it has so much opposition in your party, isn’t it?
Johnson says the government needs to resolve the problems with the protocol.
Continue reading...Home Office source says individual legal cases mean too few people may be able to board plane anyway
Two last-ditch legal challenges that attempted to halt the inaugural flight carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda have been rejected by judges.
The court of appeal upheld a previous decision to reject an injunction blocking the first flight, which was due to take off for the east African state on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Children’s and refugees charities raise concerns after detention of three children misjudged as adults in offshoring programme
Concerns are mounting that children wrongly assessed as adults by the Home Office could end up being offshored to Rwanda.
The Guardian understands that three age-disputed children who the Home Office declared to be adults and detained in preparation for offshoring to Rwanda have now been released. It is understood that concerns have been raised about whether at least three more detainees threatened with removal to the east African country are children rather than adults.
Continue reading...Appeal against plan to remove asylum seekers who arrive in the UK via unofficial routes due to take place on Monday
Protests have taken place before a possible first flight removing asylum seekers to Rwanda, as unions said that officials should not be asked to take part in a policy that may subsequently be declared illegal.
With the first flight in the deportation scheme scheduled to take place on Tuesday evening, activists also promised to target the Spanish charter airline understood to be providing the aircraft.
Continue reading...Met police called to help enforcement officers get past crowd of demonstrators after Nigerian man detained for overstaying visa
A man arrested for immigration offences was released on bail after protesters gathered in south-east London on Saturday for hours to block a van he was being transported in from leaving.
Video footage posted on Twitter showed a crowd of about 200 people sitting on the ground in front of the vehicle in Peckham while another clip showed members of the public standing and shouting “let him go”.
Continue reading...Judge refuses to grant interim relief after lawyers for asylum seekers argued policy was unlawful
A high court judge has ruled that a controversial deportation flight to Rwanda that was due to take off early next week can go ahead.
Mr Justice Swift refused to grant interim relief – urgent action in response to an injunction application made by several asylum seekers facing offshoring to Rwanda.
Continue reading...Letters to asylum seekers assured them UNHCR was ‘closely involved’ in deportation scheme, high court hears
The United Nations refugee agency has made a dramatic intervention to try to halt Priti Patel’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
In a late submission of evidence, the UNHCR claimed the home secretary misled refugees over the organisation’s support for the plan. The agency has also said the scheme failed to meet the required standards of “legality and appropriateness” for transferring asylum seekers from one country to another.
Continue reading...Disagreements have led to delay in course rollout as civil servants think empire material ‘too controversial’
Civil servants have attempted to “sanitise” a Home Office teaching module on race, empire and colonialism, according to those involved in devising a mandatory course on British history for the department’s 36,000 employees.
Disagreements have led to a year-long delay in the rollout of the project, which was due to be launched in June 2021. Home Office civil servants are understood to be nervous that some of the proposed material addressing issues of race, colonialism and empire is “too controversial” and have urged academics to tone down some of the content.
Continue reading...About 30 asylum seekers expected to be sent to Rwanda on 14 June
Priti Patel’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as soon as next week is facing a legal challenge under emergency proceedings launched in the high court on Wednesday.
An application for a judicial review claims that the home secretary’s policy is unlawful. Claimants are also seeking an injunction that will attempt to stop the plane from taking off.
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