First refugee flights to Rwanda put on hold
Mindful of mounting legal challenges, Home Office will not send migrants to Africa before June 6
‘Sending them to Rwanda would breach their rights. We’re fighting it, and we believe the public will support us’
THE first deportation flights to Rwanda have been delayed amid a legal challenge by migrant charities and a civil service union.
The Home Office agreed to hold any flights to remove migrants to Rwanda until after June 6 following “pre-action” letters sent this week by the charities claiming the policy breaches the refugee convention and human rights law.
The charities – Care4calais and Detention Action – and the Public and Commercial Services union are understood to be preparing legal claims both by individual migrants and against the broader policy.
Boris Johnson was said to have wanted the first asylum seekers flown to Rwanda on their one-way tickets to the east African state by the end of May although the Home Office has refused to publicly set any date for the first flight.
The news of the delay was disclosed by Care4calais founder Clare Moseley, a high-profile critic of the Government’s asylum policy who has been no stranger to controversy since she set up the charity in 2015 after turning her back on the corporate world.
It now boasts more than 5,000 volunteers, provides access to legal, medical and other services, and is funded through a network of more than 100,000 public supporters and donors.
She stepped back from the charity in 2017 after controversy over an alleged relationship with a Tunisian migrant but has moved on to put the charity at the forefront of the challenge to the centrepiece of the Government’s new asylum and immigration policy.
She said: “Sending them to Rwanda would breach their rights, cost taxpayers millions and break international law. We’re fighting it, and we believe the public will support us.”
The first 50 migrants were notified last week of the Government’s intention to fly them to Rwanda where they will be expected to claim asylum.
That gave them between seven or 14 days to make representations before a formal five-day detention in advance of the flight. At least eight of the 50 are understood to have been contacted by the charities with the offer of legal support. Lawyers for the charities are also ready to seek an injunction if the Government tries to pre-empt a high court hearing on the legality of the policy.
The Prime Minister and Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, have previously accepted it will “take time” to get the policy off the ground largely because of legal action by “Left-wing” lawyers.
A government source said: “They have claimed a win when there isn’t one. We never said when we would send the first flight. It is just confirming it won’t be before June 6.”
Last month Ms Patel signed a deal with Rwanda, which has agreed to take in asylum seekers who arrive in Britain via small boat crossings of the Channel. Kigali will receive £120million in economic aid, with the UK covering the cost of housing and integrating migrants flown over under the scheme. Ms Patel said work was ongoing “right now” to implement the agreement during talks with Vincent Biruta, the country’s foreign minister, on Wednesday.
Yesterday, Ms Patel travelled with Mr Bruta to Geneva to urge the UN Refugee Agency to stop rubbishing the policy, saying there was an “urgent moral imperative” to send migrants to Rwanda. They said those criticising their policy were failing to offer viable alternatives to repair a “broken” global asylum system.
Bella Sankey, of Detention Action, said: “Standing with the people threatened, we intend to challenge the premise of this punishing policy and the undemocratic secrecy that surrounds it.”