The United Kingdom's upper house of parliament, on Tuesday, April 23, approved a government bill to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, a development that is key for the implementation of the UK-Rwanda migration deal which is expected to get operational in a matter of weeks.
Inked in December last year in Kigali by Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Vincent Biruta and UK Home Secretary James Cleverly, the deal seeks to revive the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP), which was ruled unlawful by the UK Supreme Court in November of the same year.
The plan seeks to transfer to Rwanda individuals who arrive illegally in the UK by means of small boats. While in Rwanda, such people will have the opportunity to claim asylum. For some time, the House of Lords had hesitated from approving the agreement as it demanded that more safeguards be added to it.
In that regard, Rwanda set up an independent committee to audit the implementation of the agreement, in addition to which there will be an appeal institution to which migrants can go in case of anything they deem unfair. The appeal institution will be headed by a Rwandan judge working with another counterpart from a Commonwealth country. It will also employ more judges from various Commonwealth countries with knowledge on human rights.
In an earlier press conference, on Monday, Sunak referred to the deal as "one of the most complex operational endeavours" that the UK Home Office has carried out, but insisted that the country is ready to have it implemented and has proper plans in place for it.
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He told the press that the deal will get operational within 10 to 12 weeks when the first flight of illegal migrants from the UK will fly to Rwanda. It is reported that about 150 people have already been identified for the first two flights.
"I can confirm that we have put an airfield on standby, booked commercial charter planes for specific slots and we have 500 highly trained individuals ready to escort illegal migrants all the way to Rwanda with 300 more trained in the coming weeks," he noted.
