The British Parliament is once again voting on a plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the flights will go ahead "come what may."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday that flights deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda would start in the next months, just hours before Parliament was set to vote on the controversial bill.
"We are ready, plans are in place and these flights will go, come what may," Sunak told a news conference.
Lawmakers in the House of Commons, dominated by Sunak's Conservatives, are expected to reject amendments suggested by the unelected House of Lords.
What is the legislation that is being voted on?
Monday's bill is a response by Sunak's government to a ruling by the UK's Supreme Court that deporting asylum seekers to the East African country would be in violation of international law.
It would oblige the courts to consider Rwanda as a safe third country and give powers to UK lawmakers to ignore parts of international law as well as human rights law.
The House of Lords had held up the bill and even if it is passed on Monday, it could still face legal challenges.
The idea to send migrants to Rwanda was first introduced by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2022, but legal objections have prevented any flights from going ahead.
The Conservatives have repeatedly pledged a reduction in migrant numbers, increasingly making it one of their flagship policies. But they are expected to suffer a resounding defeat at the next general election that could take place this year, after 14 years in power.
Expensive 'gimmick'
The plan to deport asylum seekers, who are fleeing conflict, poverty and increasingly extreme weather, is expected to cost the country £540 million ($665 million) to send just the first 300 people to Rwanda.
It has been called a cruel "gimmick" by the charity Care4Calais.
The government has said it will stop asylum seekers from wanting to come to the UK, although it's not clear how effective this will be. Some 120,000 people crossed the English Channel since 2018, arriving illegally. Dozens have died.
Nevertheless, Sunak said on Monday that the government had chartered commercial jets and put an airfield on standby for the first flights which could take place in 10 to 12 weeks' time.
UN rights experts have warned that airline companies that are involved in the project could themselves end up being charged with complicity in violating international law.
ab/lo (Reuters, AFP)
