UK-Rwanda deportation deal sails through Parliamentary storm.

The Safety of Rwanda Bill, a bill introduced to still the storm of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda passed the crucial third reading in the House of Commons in London on January 17, 2024.

The third reading of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill passed by 320 votes to 276, a majority of forty-four.

11 Conservative Party MPs, the party of the Prime Minister, voted against the bill in its third reading because of it not being tough enough against those that may want to fail the deportation process by mounting individual legal challenges against the deportation.

Already, the European Court of Human Rights failed the first deportation flight in June 2023 when an Iraqi man filed a case against being deported due to concerns about his personal safety in Rwanda.

Consequent appeals reached the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom which declared the law illegal and unconstitutional, in November 2023. It also pronounced that Rwanda is indeed not a safe place to deport asylum seekers.

Sunak’s “stroke of genius.”

When the Prime Minister lost the court battle, he decides to table a bill in parliament declaring Rwanda safe.

On Thursday, the majority of MPs in the lower house gave him their votes and declared Rwanda safe.

What remains is the bill’s day in the House of Lords, and the Royal Assent.

Sunak ran a campaign for premier on the promise of “stopping the boats.” That is, stopping illegal migration from Africa across the English Channel to the United Kingdom. The Conservative Party claims that The Rwanda Bill – officially the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership has already caused a 36% drop in illegal boats across the channel.

Rwanda

If the politics is successful, all illegal migrants will be deported to Rwanda, and applications for asylum will be heard in the receiving country. Successful applicants for asylum will remain in Rwanda, permanently.

“We are giving them the chance to make new lives in our country, as full members of our communities.” Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Rwanda, Vincent Biruta said, in April 2022

In the deal announced by former Premier Boris Johnson, the United Kingdom will pay Rwanda an “economic transformation and integration fund” amounting to £120 million, which it has already paid, and will also fund each immigrant £20,000 – £30,000 for their relocation and temporary accommodation under the scheme. The agreement with the Rwandan government did not specify how many migrants would have been accepted under the scheme but it was subsequently reported that the initial maximum would have been 200.

In comparison, the UK government registered 45,755 people arriving by small boats in 2022, 60% higher than in 2021, according to the Home Office. That has led to a record backlog of 161,000 asylum cases.

The population density of Rwanda in 2023 is 555 people per square kilometer, a 2.31% increase from 2022. In 2022, it was 523.03 people per square kilometer, also a 2.34% increase from 2021. It is the second most densely populated country in Africa.