Following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, the UK had to abort its attempt to relocate irregular migrants to Rwanda, enabling them to file for asylum there. The new UK policy is meant to break the business model of smugglers, but is now facing legal obstacles.
Despite UK courts dismissing legal challenging against it, the Strasbourg – based European Court of Human Rights managed to stop the implementation of the new approach for now.
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel (picture) reacted that the “legal challenge and last-minute claims” would not stop the policy from being implemented, stating: “We will not be deterred. (…) Our legal team are reviewing every decision made on this flight and preparation for the next flight begins now.”
According to the European Court of Human Rights, the expulsion should wait until UK courts have provided their final verdict on the legality of it all. This is expected to happen in July.
UK Cabinet ministers urged Priti Patel to igorne the European Court of Human Rights ruling as fellow UK Conservatives stated the UK should ‘kick these b***ards into touch’ by leaving the ECHR, something which was UK official Conservative Party policy only a few years ago.
A YouGov poll suggests 44% of people support the Rwanda plan, as 40% of the UK public are opposed.
Back in 2010, Belgian Constitutional Court President Marc Bossuyt already warned: “The European Court of Human Rights is exceedingly transgressing its competence in asylum matters”.
Separately, Spain, which will host the upcoming NATO summit, will advocate to include the term “hybrid threats”, like irregular migration, food insecurity and terrorism in NATO’s new policy roadmap, according to Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares.
Commenting on irregular migration, German ECR MEP Lars Patrick Berg has stated: “Irregular migration is a serious problem for EU member states. Hybrid threats can lead to consequential security issues. This matter should be part of the „Strategy Concept“ for the next decade of NATO.”
Irregular #migration is a serious problem for 🇪🇺/ member states. Hybrid threats can lead to consequential #security issues. This matter should be part of the „Strategy Concept“ for next decade of #NATO.https://t.co/5GThglwft4
— Lars Patrick Berg MdEP (@L_P_Berg) June 11, 2022
picture: UK Home secretary Priti Patel (Copyright: By Policy Exchange – https://secure.flickr.com/photos/policyexchange/8077475823/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35927059 )