Britain's revived plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda would drastically strip back courts' ability to scrutinise decisions and risks dealing a "serious blow to human rights", the United Nations rights chief said on Monday.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is pushing legislation through parliament that would declare Rwanda a safe country for asylum seekers despite misgivings from some lawmakers, who have attacked the plan as unethical and unworkable.
Under the proposals, asylum seekers who arrive on England's southern coast in boats would be sent to Rwanda to live.
Political capital
Volker Turk said the current state of the bill, which has yet to pass the House of Lords, would require Rwanda being treated as a "safe country" regardless of the evidence.
"You cannot legislate facts out of existence," said Turk.
"It is deeply concerning to carve out one group of people, or people in one particular situation, from the equal protection of the law," he added.
With his Conservative Party trailing in the opinion polls before an election expected later this year, Sunak has invested large amounts of political capital in the Rwanda policy in the hope it will allow him to meet a promise to "stop the boats".
Stopping arrivals
More than 1,300 asylum seekers have arrived in Britain on small boats so far this year.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says his administration wants to curb the number of irregular migrants arriving in the country.
''There is no way to stop people coming here unless you have a deterrent that means they will be sent somewhere else. It's as simple as that,'' Mr Sunak said during a presentation to MPs in December.
''This is our deterrent and we are doing everything we can to get it on the statute books and get it up and running,” he vowed.
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