Alexander Betts, Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs, has spoken to the ‘i’ newspaper about the UK government’s ‘Rwanda Plan’.
He said: “In practice, it’s almost impossible to conceive of a way to design a version of the Rwanda policy that would be made compatible with our human rights obligations.”
Betts highlighted that the UK is bound by both international and domestic legislation to adhere to the law on issues including proper detention and non-refoulement, the key principle of ensuring that no asylum seeker can be sent or returned to a country where they are at risk of persecution.
He stated: “This is because the range of considerations involved … are difficult to square with the idea of forcibly putting people seeking asylum on planes and sending them to a country with a problematic human rights record.”