AIUK Briefing - Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill - 12-01-24

Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill – Committee Stage, Commons

Summary

This Bill is both the UK Government’s response to the decision of the Supreme Court that its Rwanda scheme is unlawful and the latest of many attempts to produce a workable means of implementing the policy it first established in December 2020, of refusing to process asylum claims. The desperation to make this underlying policy work has driven the Government to ever more draconian steps, including this Bill which is so extreme it risks provoking a constitutional crisis at home and rupture with the UK’s commitments and relationships abroad. 

It is Amnesty International UK’s (AIUK) view that this Bill:

• Is an attack on the most basic functions of the UK’s independent judiciary and on the universal protection of human rights.
• Is the result of a mistaken belief that the UK can simply abandon its responsibilities under the Refugee Convention.
• Should never have been introduced and we urge Parliamentarians of all parties to oppose it in its entirety.