UK PM prefers exiting from ECHR over taking immigrants in
4 Min Read
Rishi Suank expresses the will to leave the European Court of Human Rights if it will help in limiting immigration flow to the UK.
-
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addresses the media at Downing Street in London, on March 1, 2024. (AP)
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the United Kingdom is ready to exit from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) if it would help in "controlling the illegal migration" situation.
Speaking on The Sun's Never Mind The Ballots politics show on April 3, Sunak said, "I believe that all plans are compliant with all of our international obligations, including the ECHR, but I do believe that border security and making sure that we can control illegal migration is more important than membership of a foreign court because it’s fundamental to our sovereignty as a country."
The newspaper said that it is the strongest warning so far to "meddling Strasbourg judges" who stopped the first deportation flight to Rwanda in 2022.
What happened?
The United Kingdom and Rwanda signed a migration agreement in 2022, under which people identified by the UK government as undocumented migrants or asylum seekers would be deported to Rwanda for processing, asylum, and resettlement.
The plan has drawn criticism from human rights organizations and some politicians who believe the measure will not help stem the flow of migrants.
The first deportation of migrants from the UK to Rwanda was scheduled for June 14, 2022. However, the flight was canceled at the last minute due to the European Court of Human Rights ruling.
London has already paid Kigali £240 million (280 million euros) since ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson first announced the plan in April 2022.
Sunak has pledged to slash record levels of regular migration and stop asylum seekers crossing from France to Britain in small boats and insists the Rwanda bill is essential to deter migrants from considering traveling to the United Kingdom via unauthorized routes.
UK resolution to deport migrants to Rwanda delayed until after Easter
The Guardian reported on March 15, citing insider sources, that the UK government is considering postponing the Rwanda Deportation Bill until after Easter. Such a move is likely to provoke anger among Conservative members.
The scheduled second exchange of the bill between the upper and lower houses of the UK parliament was set for March 25 and 26, just before the three-week Easter recess. However, according to the sources cited, it has now been removed from the agenda.
"They've basically said to us we won't see it again until after Easter," a Labour source was quoted as saying.
This means that the controversial bill is unlikely to become law before mid-April, The Guardian said.
The delay is expected to frustrate Conservative lawmakers who have been dissatisfied with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's handling of illegal migration.
More than 4,600 asylum seekers have arrived in the UK this year
Provisional data from the Home Office, or interior ministry, revealed on March 27 that as of March 26 this year 4,644 asylum seekers had been detected as arriving in the UK from across the Channel on small boats like inflatable dinghies.
3,770 asylum seekers were detected in the same period last year, and 4,162 in 2022.
Around two weeks ago, a Home Office spokesperson said, "The unacceptable number of people who continue to cross the Channel demonstrates exactly why we must get flights to Rwanda off the ground as soon as possible."
"We continue to work closely with French police who are facing increasing violence and disruption on their beaches as they work tirelessly to prevent these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary journeys," the spokesperson added.
Labour's immigration spokesperson, Stephen Kinnock, also previously said, "Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Rishi Sunak keeps on telling the British people that small boat arrivals are coming down and his promise to stop the boats remains on track."
