London: Britain cancels its first deportation flight to Rwanda following a last-minute intervention by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that there was a “real risk of irreversible damage” to the sun. asylum seekers involved.
The flight was scheduled to take place on Tuesday evening, London time, but asylum seekers’ lawyers launched a series of case-by-case appeals to block everyone’s deportation from the government list.
Rwanda’s deportation flight to Boscombe Down air base in Britain. Credit: Getty
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in April an agreement with Rwanda that illegally entering Britain would be deported to the East African country.
In return for accepting them, Rwanda would receive millions of pounds in development aid. The deportees could seek asylum in Rwanda, not in Britain.
The plan was modeled on Australia’s approach to detaining asylum seekers in the Pacific Islands.
Foreign Minister Liz Truss had said earlier that the plane would take off no matter how many people were on board. But after the appeals, no one stayed.
The decision to eliminate Tuesday’s flight limits three days of frantic legal challenges, as immigration rights activists and unions tried to stop the deportations. The leaders of the Church of England joined the opposition, calling the government’s policy “immoral”.
Earlier in the day, Johnson had strongly defended the plan.
“Let’s go ahead and deliver” the plan, Johnson said, arguing that the measure is a legitimate way to protect lives and thwart criminal gangs passing migrants across the English Channel in small boats.