UK Deportations to Rwanda Stalled As European Court Steps In

By Staff, Agencies

The United Kingdom’s first flight to take asylum-seekers to Rwanda has not taken off as scheduled after the European human rights court issued last-minute injunctions to stop the deportation of the handful of people on board.

The UK government’s plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda on Tuesday had been heavily criticized by opponents, charities, and religious leaders who said the deportations were inhumane, and the government was forced to fight a series of legal challenges in London courts aimed at stopping the flight departing.

A handful of asylum-seekers were scheduled to fly from an air force base in southwest England, but shortly before the plane was due to leave on Tuesday the European Court of Human Rights [ECHR] granted injunctions to prevent their deportations.

“I have always said this policy will not be easy to deliver and am disappointed that legal challenge and last-minute claims have meant today’s flight was unable to depart,” UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said.

“It is very surprising that the European Court of Human Rights has intervened despite repeated earlier success in our domestic courts,” Patel said.

The Home Secretary said the government would not be deterred in its deportation plans and would prepare for the next flight.

In the last few days, at least 30 individuals earmarked to be on the first flight successfully argued that they should not be deported to Rwanda on health or human rights grounds.

The ECHR’s ruling relating to one of the men due for deportation, an Iraqi, stated he “should not be removed until the expiry of a period of three weeks following the delivery of the final domestic decision in the ongoing judicial review proceedings.”

The High Court in London is due to hold this judicial review in July to decide on the legality of the scheme.

Judges in the UK on Monday rejected an appeal against the deportations. Those due to be deported include Albanians, Iraqis, Iranians and a Syrian, Care4Calais said.

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi had earlier denounced the UK government policy as “all wrong” and said it should not be “exporting its responsibility to another country.”

Church of England leaders, including the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, had also criticized the deportation plan as “one that should shame us as a nation.”