Top UN officials ask UK to rethink controversial Rwanda Asylum Plan

Top United Nations officials have urged the United Kingdom to reconsider its decision to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda, warning that the action would jeopardize human rights and refugee protection.

Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, and Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a joint statement urging the UK to take concrete measures to address irregular flows of migrants and refugees.

Grandi said, “The new legislation marks a further step away from the UK’s long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the Refugee Convention.”

Turk, on his part, argued that the legislation “seriously hinders the rule of law in the UK and sets a perilous precedent globally.”

Recall that the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks after the upper house of parliament passed legislation that had been delayed for weeks by attempts to suspend the plan.

The move to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has been critisised.

Human rights activists have expressed concern about the East African country’s poor human rights record as well as the chance that asylum seekers will be returned to face dangerous uncertainties.

The UK move has sparked interest in other nations to curb illegal migration.

The Italian authorities have been planning to create reception facilities in Albania for thousands of migrants coming by sea.