AFP – Europe’s top rights body told Britain on Tuesday to withdraw its controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, saying it raises “serious questions” over their rights and the rule of law. I asked.
British Parliament on Monday passed a bill to expel asylum seekers to Rwanda to await a decision on their claims, in a bid to prevent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak from making the dangerous sea crossing to Britain.
Council of Europe human rights commissioner Michael O’Flaherty said: “The UK government should refrain from expelling people under its Rwanda policy and reverse this bill’s de facto breach of judicial independence.”
Mr O’Flaherty said the bill “raises serious questions about the human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law more generally”.
The UK is one of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.
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The country is therefore part of the Council of Europe and is bound by the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upholding this Convention.
In June 2022, the ECHR issued so-called interim measures blocking Britain’s initial bid to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda, infuriating Britain’s Conservative government.
Mr O’Flaherty expressed concern that the new legislation risks deporting people to Rwanda “in most cases without a prior assessment of their asylum claims by UK authorities”.
He also warned that the bill would significantly prevent UK courts from fully and independently scrutinizing “the issues raised”.
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– “Binding Measures” –
The Rwanda plan, which has been criticized by UN human rights experts and groups supporting asylum seekers, has been beset by legal challenges since it was first proposed in 2022.
Lawyers for the asylum seekers could go back to the ECHR, a court of last resort whose verdicts are not subject to appeal, to win a last-minute interim measure to prevent the plane from taking off.
This measure is an emergency judgment that can only be taken if the ECHR determines that there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm to the plaintiff.
Britain’s Conservative Party has complained that the ruling is a “pajama injunction” issued at anti-social hours, but CoE officials say the ruling was issued in full accordance with ECHR legislation. It claims to be a thing.
Mr Sunak reiterated in London on Monday that “foreign courts will not prevent our flights from operating”.
“If I had to choose between our national security and securing our borders and participating in a foreign court, of course I would always prioritize our national security,” he said. .
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ECHR judgments are binding on CoE member states, but compliance issues have arisen in recent years in litigation involving some member states.
Turkey has repeatedly defied rulings ordering the release of prisoners whose domestic trials were ruled unfair.
French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin has vowed to defy an ECHR ruling ordering the deportation to France of Uzbek nationals accused by French authorities of being Islamic extremists.
Mr O’Flaherty lamented that UK law gives UK ministers the power to decide whether to comply with the ECHR’s interim measures, even though “such measures are binding”.
“Failure to comply with these would undermine the individual’s right to petition as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights,” he said.
