UK Edition
First Rwanda flight delayed after legal challenge by migrant charity
Government source insists delay is not ‘a win’ for advocacy groups as legal challenges to the asylum plan were always anticipated
The first deportation flights to Rwanda have been delayed amid a legal challenge by migrant charities and a civil service union.
The Home Office agreed to hold any flights to remove migrants to Rwanda until after June 6 following “pre-action” letters sent this week by the charities claiming the policy breaches the refugee convention and human rights law.
The charities – Care4Calais and Detention Action – and the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union are understood to be preparing legal claims both by individual migrants and against the broader policy.
Boris Johnson was said to have wanted the first asylum seekers to be flown to Rwanda on one-way tickets to the east African state by the end of May, although the Home Office has refused to publicly set any date for the first flight.
The news of the delay was disclosed by Clare Moseley, the founder of Care4Calais, a high-profile critic of the Government’s asylum policy who has been no stranger to controversy since she set up the charity in 2015 after turning her back on the corporate world.
It now boasts more than 5,000 volunteers, provides access to legal, medical and other services, and is funded through a network of more than 100,000 public supporters and donors.
She stepped back from the charity in 2017 following controversy over an alleged relationship with a Tunisian migrant, but has moved on to put the charity at the forefront of the challenge to the Government’s new asylum and immigration policy.
“Sending them to Rwanda would breach their rights, cost taxpayers millions and break international law. We’re fighting it, and we believe the public will support us,” she said.
The first 50 migrants were notified last week of the Government’s intention to fly them to Rwanda where they will be expected to claim asylum. That gave them between seven or 14 days to make representations before a further formal five-day detention in advance of the flight.
At least eight of the 50 are understood to have been contacted by the charities with the offer of legal support. It is believed their lawyers are ready to seek an injunction if there is any attempt by the Government to pre-empt a high court hearing on the legality of the policy.
The Prime Minister and Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, have previously accepted it will “take time” to get the policy off the ground largely because of legal action by “left wing” lawyers.
A government source said: “They have claimed a win when there isn’t one. We never said when we would send the first flight. It is just confirming it won’t be before June 6.”
The Home Secretary said work was ongoing “right now” to implement the agreement during talks with Vincent Biruta, the country’s foreign minister, on Wednesday.
She said her department was “pushing ahead with delivering this world-leading plan which epitomises the kind of international approach that is required to tackle an international challenge like the migration crisis”.
On Wednesday Ms Patel travelled with Vincent Bruta to Geneva to urge the UN Refugee Agency to stop rubbishing the policy, saying there was an “urgent moral imperative” to send migrants to Rwanda.
They said those criticising their policy were failing to come up with viable alternatives to the Rwanda plan that could equally repair a “broken” global asylum system.
After the meetings, she said: “Rwanda and the UK stand together in promoting a new, fairer, more effective global asylum system. Our [Rwanda policy] will deter criminality, exploitation and abuse, while supporting the humane and respectful treatment of refugees.”
Bella Sankey, the director of Detention Action, said: “Standing with the people threatened, we intend to challenge the premise of this punishing policy and the undemocratic secrecy that surrounds it.”
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: "The government’s determination to push ahead with treating any person fleeing war or oppression, including those escaping Ukraine and Afghanistan, as a commodity to be shipped to Rwanda is appallingly cruel and will cause great human suffering.
"We urge the Government to immediately rethink its plans and focus on workable alternatives such as providing more safe routes including allowing people to apply for humanitarian visas. The government must also begin meaningful dialogue with the French and other European nations to share responsibility for providing people seeking asylum across Europe with the opportunity to have a fair hearing."
A Home Office spokesman said: “We are fully committed to our partnership with Rwanda. It fully complies with international and national law and we will defend any legal challenge robustly.
“We are putting this plan into action and have started to notify those who are in scope to be relocated to Rwanda, with more people notified this week. The first flights expected to take place in the coming months, legal action has not yet had any impact on this. ”
A record 8,697 migrants have reached the UK by small boats so far this year, more than double the rate for the same period last year. A record 28,395 people crossed the Channel last year, more than three times the previous year’s figure.