The UN has again accused of “irony and double standards” after claiming Rishi Sunak should scrap the Rwanda plan.
The Prime Minister is facing a battle to deport Channel migrants to Rwanda this Spring, with key leglislation still held up in Parliament.
But the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has heaped more pressure on the Governmment, calling on the UK Government to abandon the scheme and repeal measures already in legislation as part of Mr Sunak’s plan to “stop the boats” crossing the English Channel.
A source close to Home Secretary James Cleverly dismissed the committee’s finding.
They said: “It has always been the height of irony and double standards that one arm of the UN says it has concerns about Rwanda as a country and another arm of the same organisation continually and consistently uses Rwanda to house and process asylum seekers as a third-country destination and celebrates their deal with the Rwanda for doing so.”
The international panel was “deeply concerned about the introduction of legislative initiatives containing elements that discriminate against migrants and that seek to limit access to rights for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants”, such as the Illegal Migration Act 2023.
The committee said the law, which is intended to stop people who arrive in the UK illegally from being able to stay here, effectively amounts to an “asylum ban”.
The human rights body said it “regrets” the Rwanda plan and the Government’s efforts to adopt the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill “despite the ruling of the UK Supreme Court that the arrangement would not be compliant with international law”.
The legislation, which is due to return to the Commons when MPs come back to Westminster following the Easter break on April 15, is designed to make the Rwanda plan legally watertight following the Supreme Court defeat.
The Safety of Rwanda Bill and a treaty with Kigali are aimed at addressing concerns about the scheme and the potential for people sent to the African nation to be removed to another country – a process known as refoulement – where they could face persecution.
Ministers have been particularly frustrated by the UN’s interventions in the UK’s bid to end the Channel migrant crisis.
UNHCR does have a programme called the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM), aimed at evacuating some of the most vulnerable refugees in Libya to Rwanda.
But a UNHCR spokesperson stressed that “this programme is emergency, temporary and voluntary in nature and serves a very specific, limited purpose.”
The UN body said the Government should pull the legislation, or repeal it if passed by Parliament, “with a view to strictly upholding the principle of non-refoulement in both law and practice”.
UN refugee agency the UNHCR has evacuated people from Libya to Rwanda, but that is a temporary and voluntary scheme.
The Government’s plans would see people who arrive on small boats sent to Rwanda to claim asylum there, with no right to come back to the UK.
The report published on Thursday was issued by the Human Rights Committee, which monitors countries’ compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Its 18 members are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world.
A Government spokesperson said ministers are committed to the Safety of Rwanda Bill “which will help stop illegal migration to the UK, dismantle the people smuggling gangs and save lives”.
