Rishi Sunak's make-or-break Rwanda plan still illegal says UN in brutal verdict
Rishi Sunak's latest bid to force through his Rwanda plan still breaks international law, the UN has said.
In scathing assessment the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, accused the UK of "responsibility shifting" and said it would be acting illegally if it goes ahead. It comes as Mr Sunak faces a bitter battle with warring sections of his party - some of who have said they're not prepared to see ministers break the law.
A report published on the eve of a make-or-break Commons clash said that even with a new treaty between the UK and Rwanda, the agreement "does not meet the required standards". It is therefore not compatible with international refugee law, the Commissioner wrote.
The document states that the UK-Rwanda deal "runs counter to the fundamental principles of global solidarity and responsibility-sharing". And it goes on: "By entrenching responsibility-shifting, the treaty remains at variance with the spirit and letter of the Refugee Convention."
It comes after the Home Office admitted it has failed to introduce new safe and legal routes for asylum seekers. Human rights groups say this is essential to tackling the small boat crisis, as it would hit trafficking gangs behind the dangerous crossings.
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Mr Grandi's report states: "Safe, legal routes to the UK also remain inaccessible to the overwhelming majority of the world’s refugees, unable to benefit from bespoke schemes for Ukrainians and British nationals from Hong Kong, or smaller programmes for certain Afghan nationals." It said that just 60 to 70 refugees arrived on average each month on UNHCR-facilitated resettlement programmes.
It added that going ahead with the deportation team - which would see asylum seekers forced onto planes and sent 6,000 miles to Rwanda, would send a "damaging signal" to other countries. And it warned that the African nation's asylum system is "already overstretched".
Mr Sunak claims his bill addresses a Supreme Court ruling that the scheme is unlawful. But the UNHCR said this isn't the case, and the risk remains that people could be forced back to their homelands even if it's not safe.
It said the PM's Safety of Rwanda Bill is "deeply worrying and is not in line with the Refugee Convention". The report goes on: "UNHCR is similarly deeply concerned about the proposal to legislate to exclude a specific category of individuals – asylum-seekers – from certain protections enshrined by the Human Rights Act, including the right to challenge their removal based on European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) grounds." It said this "undermines the universality of human rights" and sets "an acutely troubling precedent".
On Tuesday and Wednesday MPs will debate the Bill, with more than 50 right-wing rebels backing a string of amendments calling for it to be strengthened. But centrist Tories say they won't support demands put forward by former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick and veteran hardliner Sir Bill Cash.
Mr Sunak was dealt a hammer blow when two Tory deputy chairmen - Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith - said they back Mr Jenrick and Sir Bill's demands. If they vote against the Government, the PM will have to decide whether to sack the duo - with other senior Tories also said to be unhappy with the Bill.
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