© AFP
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak assured on Monday that everything is “ready” to send asylum seekers from the United Kingdom to Rwanda, “whatever happens”. According to him, the first flights will depart within ten to twelve weeks. The controversial bill is still blocked in the British Parliament.
Source: BELGA
Monday April 22, 2024 at 1:29 PM
The British government has long been planning to send undocumented migrants who cannot return to their home country to Rwanda. She has the Kigali agreement for this, but the plan is encountering domestic resistance. The British Supreme Court shot down the plan because Rwanda cannot be considered a safe country, after which Prime Minister Sunak amended the law, which was devised by his predecessor Boris Johnson.
The government’s plan is stuck in a ping-pong game between the two houses of parliament. The House of Commons will debate the plans again on Monday, and the bill could be voted on again.
Whatever happens, the flights will continue anyway, Sunak emphasizes. He said this at a press conference at which he presented the means used by the government to organize the deportations.
He added that 500 workers have been trained to escort the migrants and that another 300 people will be trained in the coming weeks. According to the Prime Minister, the first flight will leave in ten to twelve weeks.
The government has now booked a commercial airline to implement the plan. It is not known which company that is.
Meanwhile, experts from the United Nations express their concerns about the role that airlines should play. They say the companies are complicit in human rights abuses if they implement the government’s plan.