Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda plan burns bridges with Afghan allies

Afghans who worked for the British during the war against the Taliban have “no hope for the future” if they are to be part of the Rwanda deportation, a former military interpreter has told The National.
The Afghan, who worked for special forces including the SAS, said friends who had paid up to $15,000 to leave as economic migrants were “deeply fearful” about being sent to the African country.
The UK government had indicated that Afghans will be among the first on the deportation flights to Rwanda, even if they served the UK during its operations in Afghanistan, mainly in Helmand province.
However, a Home Office minister later confirmed the government would not send those eligible under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) to Rwanda.
“Afghans have the same worries as the other refugees because they’re going to be moving to a country where they have no hope for the future,” said the Afghan source, who worked for the British from 2006 to 2014.
“They are worried, of course, because they’re going to be going to a country where they don’t have strong rights as they have currently in the UK.”
He said some had spent $15,000 to get to Britain to “establish a new life” with their families and to flee the oppressive Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
The bill is set to become law after a marathon day of protests and votes in the House of Lords on Monday.
MPs and peers have now agreed to the plan, and it is expected to be granted royal assent on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said “nothing will stand in our way” of now getting flights off the ground.
“The passing of this landmark legislation is not just a step forward but a fundamental change in the global equation on migration.
“We introduced the Rwanda Bill to deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous crossings and break the business model of the criminal gangs who exploit them.
“The passing of this legislation will allow us to do that and make it very clear that if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay.
“Our focus is to now get flights off the ground and I am clear that nothing will stand in our way of doing that and saving lives.”
In a video posted to social media, Home Secretary James Cleverly said the Bill would “become law within days”.
“The Act will prevent people from abusing the law by using false human rights claims to block removals,” he said.
“And it makes clear that the UK Parliament is sovereign, giving government the power to reject interim blocking measures imposed by European courts.
“I promised to do what was necessary to clear the path for the first flight. That’s what we have done.
“Now we’re working day in and day out to get flights off the ground.”
The first flights removing asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda will leave in 10 to 12 weeks, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday.
Mr Sunak told a news briefing at Downing Street that the government’s preparations have continued at pace to enforce the plan amid parliamentary delays.
Before the final parliamentary showdown for the government’s Rwanda legislation later on Monday, Mr Sunak pledged Parliament “would sit there tonight and vote no matter how late it goes. No ifs. No buts”.
Under the plan, which was announced by Boris Johnson’s government in 2022, the government will send asylum seekers to Rwanda to have their claims processed there.
They would be granted refugee status with permission to stay in Rwanda, or be eligible to apply on other grounds to stay.
They could also seek asylum in another “safe” country but they cannot return to the UK.
The deportation deal is the centrepiece of a government effort to curb a surge in migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats and claiming asylum, by acting as a deterrent to prospective migrants.
The government has, however, struggled to get the first flight off the ground, after an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights, which issued last-minute injunctions to stop the move in the summer of 2022.
In December of that year, the UK’s High Court ruled the government’s Rwanda policy was lawful.
But it continued to be challenged in the UK domestic courts, with a case reaching the Supreme Court last year, when judges there ruled the policy was illegal under international law.
Judges on the Supreme Court said Rwanda could not be considered safe for migrants because asylum seekers who have their claims rejected could be returned to their countries of origin.
The government signed a new treaty with Rwanda, which included an assurance that migrants would not be expelled from the country if their claims were rejected.
It has addressed the Supreme Court’s concerns over the current bill by forcing judges to treat Rwanda as a safe country for asylum seekers and allowing ministers to ignore emergency injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights.
Members of the House of Lords have repeatedly blocked the legislation with amendments, stretching debate on the “emergency legislation” for more than four months and delaying flights from taking off for Kigali.
Downing Street was hostile to the idea of making concessions to secure the passage of the bill, leading to a deadlock with the Lords.
The Hope Hostel in Kigali, Rwanda, was due to house asylum seekers under the British government’s plan, which has been ruled unlawful. PA
Charities working with migrants say no.
In a statement issued to The National, Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais, said the “unworkable, albeit brutal, gimmick” will do nothing to stop small boat crossings.
People are not choosing to risk their lives in the Channel as their preferred route to claim asylum in the UK, Mr Smith said.
“It is their only route. The UK government has effectively cut every safe route to claim asylum in the UK, and the only way to stop crossings and save lives is to open new, safe routes.”
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the Rwanda plan would only “compound the chaos within the asylum system”.
In a statement to The National he said: “Even if, as the Prime Minister asserts, there is to be a regular rhythm of multiple flights every month, this will still only correspond to, at most, a few thousand people a year, out of tens of thousands.
“Instead of giving these people a fair hearing on UK soil to determine if they have a protection need, the government will have to look after them indefinitely, at considerable cost.
“Despite the Prime Minister’s renewed claims about deterrence, we know from the Home Office’s own research, as well as our own, that policies such as the Rwanda Plan don’t actually work as a deterrent, and people seeking asylum have said they won’t stop coming to the UK to find safety.
“Refugee flows are driven by global events and geopolitical factors such as armed conflicts and political instability.
“And the reasons people come to the UK are often to do with family connections, community links and language.”
“The first flight will leave in 10 to 12 weeks. Now, of course, that is later than we wanted,” Mr Sunak said on Monday.
Mr Sunak declined to give details on numbers of people expected to leave on flights to Rwanda but said there would be a “regular rhythm” of “multiple flights a month through the summer and beyond”.
“To deal with any legal cases quickly and decisively, the judiciary have made available 25 courtrooms and identified 150 judges who could provide over 5,000 sitting days.
“The Strasbourg court has amended their Rule-39 procedures in line with the test set out in our Illegal Migration Act,” said Mr Sunak ahead of the vote.
“No foreign court will stop us from getting flights off.”