'state-sponsored trafficking'- Peers will fight UK government's awful Rwanda plans, says Lord Dubbs [View all]
Ministers will face a fierce battle in parliament over plans to force some asylum seekers to be relocated to Rwanda, a Labour peer and former child refugee has vowed.
Alf Dubs, who was brought to Britain from Czechoslovakia on one of the Kindertransport trains in 1939, told the Guardian that the government was trying to ride roughshod over international agreements designed to help those seeking sanctuary.
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I think its a way of getting rid of people the government doesnt want, dumping them in a distant African country, and theyll have no chance of getting out of there again, he said.
I think its a breach of the 1951 Geneva conventions on refugees. You cant just shunt them around like unwanted people.
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Asked if the resettlement scheme was ever likely to get off the ground, given the threat of judicial reviews and other court action, Dubs said: I think its unlikely. As soon as they try and remove one person, Im sure therell be a legal challenge, and Im not sure the government will win it.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/16/peers-will-fight-uk-governments-awful-rwanda-plans-says-lord-dubs
Part of me wants to believe that this is all performative - racist red rag to the red wall Brexit crowd, but I don't think it is. The Conservative Party is truly this far right now. UKIP has taken over and they are really this horrid.
I have just finished listening to Any Questions from last night - if you get the chance have a listen on BBC Sounds - David Lammy was out of this world on this subject. They have literally no shame - they need to go.