The Times - UK (2022-05-02)

22 Monday May 2 2022 | the times

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IN THE

TIMES

TOMORROW

IRONMAN

RECORD

CHASER

Alistair

Brownlee

on pushing

the limits of

human

endurance

MAIN PAPER

SPORT

Rwanda plan ‘won’t break law’

Lucy Fisher Times Radio

Britain’s plan to send asylum seekers to

Rwanda does not break international

law, Australia’s most senior diplomat

has insisted.

George Brandis, the country’s high

commissioner to the UK, has defended

the policy, which is loosely modelled on

Australia’s offshore processing system,

after the UN refugee agency said Brit-

ain’s plan would break its international

treaty obligations.

Brandis told Times Radio: “At no

point do our arrangements, nor as I

read them the UK arrangements,

breach the ‘non-refoulement’ obliga-

tions in the UN Refugee Convention.”

The principle of “non-refoulement”

guarantees that no migrant can be re-

turned to a country where they would

face irreparable harm. It is a key basis

on which lawyers have predicted Patel’s

plan to settle illegal migrants in Rwan-

da will face legal challenges.

The UNHCR has said that UK at-

tempts to “shift responsibility” for re-

fugee status claims was “unacceptable”.

The diplomat’s assessment echoes

that of Boris Johnson, who has also in-

sisted the plan is legal. The UK govern-

ment retained Alexander Downer,

Australia’s former foreign minister, as a

consultant as it drew up the policy.

Perennial delight Horticulturalist Natalie Plumbridge has been making sure the tulips at RHS Wisley, Surrey, look their best
before National Gardening Week starts today. The event highlights the positive impact of spending time in green spaces

Ministers’ hopes that a deal to send mi-

grants to Rwanda would deter Channel

crossings appear to have failed as doz-

ens more people arrived yesterday.

At least five boats made the potent-

ially dangerous crossing in improving

weather for the first time since April 19,

when 263 people, mostly men, arrived.

The migrants, below, included

young children who were

picked up by a Border

Force cutter. Priti Patel,

the home secretary,

signed a deal on April

14 to send some mi-

grants who arrive in

the UK to Rwanda,

where they will be

offered the chance to

apply for asylum.

The military was also

put in charge of intercept-

ing Channel crossings in an

attempt to halt the arrivals.

Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative

MP for North West Leicestershire, had

previously tweeted that the lack of

crossings since April 19 showed “Priti’s

migrant policy is working already”.

Two asylum seekers — from Eritrea

and Iran — who entered the UK in the

back of lorries last year have already in-

structed their lawyers to challenge the

legality of the Rwanda policy.

The end of almost two weeks of high

winds yesterday led to a resumption of

Migrant crossings

resume as wind falls

David Brown crossings. Official figures showed that a

total of 2,143 migrants made it across

the Channel in 58 small boats last

month. It means that 6,693 people have

made the crossing in small boats this

year, about three times the number

during the first four months of last year.

A total of 28,526 migrants arrived in

small boats last year, significantly more

than the 8,410 who came in 2020. The

sinking of an inflatable boat off

Calais in November led to

27 people drowning.

Tom Pursglove, min-

ister for tackling ille-

gal migration, has

said the rise in

dangerous crossings

is “unacceptable”.

He added: “Not

only are they an overt

abuse of our immigra-

tion laws but they also

impact on the UK taxpay-

er, risk lives and our ability to

help refugees come to the UK via

safe and legal routes. Rightly, the Brit-

ish public has had enough.”

The Nationality and Borders Act —

described as the anti-refugee bill by

campaigners because it makes it a crim-

inal offence to knowingly arrive in the

UK illegally and includes powers to

process asylum seekers overseas — be-

came law last week. The Refugee

Council says that for the vast majority

of refugees there is no safe way to seek

asylum in Britain.

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