Top UN Officials Call on UK to Reconsider Plan to Transfer Asylum Seekers to Rwanda
Top UN officials warned that the UK’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda would negatively affect human rights and refugee protection, and they urged the country to reconsider it on Tuesday.
Instead, the UK should take concrete steps to address irregular flows of migrants and refugees, according to a joint statement from U.N. High Commissioners for Human Rights and Refugees Filippo Grandi and Volker Turk.
“The new legislation marks a further step away from the UK’s long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the Refugee Convention,” said Grandi.
Turk, who has criticised the plan before, said that the legislation “seriously hinders the rule of law in the UK and sets a perilous precedent globally”.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised on Monday to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks as the upper house of parliament passed legislation that had been delayed for weeks by attempts to alter the plan.
Other countries are considering tough measures to stem illegal migration, with Italy planning to build reception camps in Albania for thousands of migrants arriving by sea.
