UK's asylum seeker bill to violate human rights court

The president of Europe's human rights court (ECHR) has said that there is a legal obligation on states to “follow its injunctions” in response to Britain's threat to ignore its orders and continue with the inhuman plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

ECHR President Siofra O’Leary said on Thursday that countries had a “clear legal obligation” to obey “Rule 39” measures, which are issued by the court in cases where it feels a need to intervene to prevent real and “irreparable damage” to an individual.

In a clear violation of international human rights laws, asylum seekers who reach England's southern coast in small boats under the UK scheme would be sent to the East African nation.

If the UK refused to obey the court’s interim orders, it would be in contravention of the right of individuals to claim violations of their human rights as well as its obligation to obey the jurisdiction of the court, O’Leary said.

In June 2022, the ECHR issued a last-minute injunction - known as interim measures under Rule 39 - to prevent the first deportations of UK asylum seekers to the East African nation.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the foreign courts will not be allowed to intervene in the country's controversial effort to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

"I've been crystal clear, repeatedly, that I won't let a foreign court stop us from getting flights off, and getting this deterrent up and running," the British PM said last week.

The Rwanda bill of the UK aims to stop legal challenges against plans to send asylum seekers to the African country. Sunak's “Safety of Rwanda Bill” would allow Britain to ignore any ECHR orders, a power the prime minister has said he was prepared to use.

The bill was passed in the House of Commons earlier this month but may face scrutiny in the House of Lords. The bill stipulates that it is at ministers’ discretion whether they comply with Rule 39 injunctions from Strasbourg Court.

Sunak remains determined to put the policy into operation amid pressure from right-wing lawmakers in his Conservative Party and voter concern about thousands of asylum seekers arriving across the Channel in small boats.

A spokesman from the UK prime minister’s office said, “There should be no need for Strasbourg to intervene in the way to block flights in the way that they did in 2022. We've also drafted the bill to give ministers the power not to comply with those rulings if necessary."

In November, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the deportation policy was unlawful because failings in the Rwandan system meant it would breach several international laws and conventions.

In defiance of international conventions, the plan to send migrants to Rwanda to have their asylum cases processed there is regarded as Sunak’s strategy to deter migrants.

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