By Tony O’Reilly-
The Uk government’s highly controversial plan to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda has been ruled legal by the high court.
Uk judges have dismissed an application from asylum seekers, aid groups and a border officials’ union to stop the Conservative government from acting on a deportation agreement with the central African country.
British prime minister, Rushi Sunak, pursued the goal in order to limit the number of people seeking asylum in the UK, and curb soaring immigration levels.
The Uk has for years been flooded with asylum seekers, escaping Human Rights Abuses in their respective countries, and in many cases looking for a better life in the Uk.
However, the failure of the Uk government to control immigration in a country now facing growing levels of inflation, has put pressure on the government to act fast and device a plan to put a stop to it.
Objections to the ruling will be broad and wide, with some applicants including the civil service union PCS and the charities Care4Calais and Detention Action, poised to appeal against the judgment.
Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, is determined to press on with the policy, arguing that it will deter gangs who ferry people on hazardous journeys across the Channel’s busy shipping lanes.
Under the planned arrangements, the UK would send some people who arrive in the UK as stowaways or in boats to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed. Those granted asylum would stay in Rwanda rather than returning to the UK.
Britain has paid Rwanda £140m under the deal struck in April, but no one has yet been sent there. The UK was forced to cancel the first deportation flight at the last minute in June after the European court of human rights ruled the plan carried “a real risk of irreversible harm.”
Human rights groups have criticised the ruling, branding it illegal, unworkable and inhumane to send people thousands of miles to a country they do not want to live in.
They also cite Rwanda’s poor human rights record, including allegations of torture and killings of government opponents, but the government says the country has made immense progress since then.