IN a welcome development on Tuesday, the United Kingdom was forced to stop the flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda as scheduled after the European human rights court issued last-minute injunctions to stop the deportation of the handful of people on board the flight. Since the UK government decided to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, a spectrum of people, including charity organizations and religious leaders, termed the deportations programme inhuman. In London courts also, the UK government faced legal challenges against its move from the opponents.
The asylum seekers are not many, 37 in total, yet contrary to basic norms of humanity, the UK government planned to send them through an air force base in southwest England, but at the last moment European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) granted injunctions to prevent their deportations, even though in London courts the government successfully met the challenges from the opponents. The ECHR indeed deserves thanks in this regard for stopping deportation on health and basic human rights grounds.
But asylum seekers are not displaced people by war. They face threats to their life in their home countries. We are not sure if the asylum seekers finally would be able to avoid deportation since the UK government wants to move ahead with their plan of deportation. The home secretary of UK Priti Patel wants to move ahead with scheme, feeling disappointed by the ECHR injunctions.
Whatever be the ultimate result of the tussle between the UK government and human rights activities, the cancellation of Tuesday’s flight is called a watershed moment in terms of government policymaking, of UK’s global standing and of morality as a whole.
People who face real threats to their life in their home countries seek asylum to a country which they feel would be safe for them. Hence there must be a human response to them. But critics questioned whether Rwanda is safe destination and argue this plan of UK violates the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Human Rights Watch describes “serious human rights abuses continue to occur in Rwanda, including repression of free speech, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture”. Against this backdrop, the ECHR’s injunctions against the UK government’s move to deport asylum seekers carry a huge significance.
