SVP reiterates its opposition to government plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda

The SVP is reiterating its opposition to the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and the Society applauds the ruling from the European Court of Human Rights to halt the first flight to the east-central African nation.

Home Secretary Priti Patel’s refusal to discontinue the ‘inhuman’ policy of sending already traumatised asylum seekers to a country whose track record on human rights is far from untarnished is a great cause for concern.

Following the last-minute cancellation of the flight to Rwanda, Ms Patel said: “We will not be deterred from doing the right thing.” The SVP is urging the government to abandon its Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda and “do the right thing” by creating a compassionate and fair asylum system which treats people as humans. Dispatching people who need safety and deserve dignity to detention centres in a country 4,000 miles away indefinitely leaves them isolated, separated from family and in limbo about their future.

SVP National President Helen O’Shea has previously said: “The government’s Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda will see people arriving in the UK, who have already made an arduous and often highly dangerous journey, pushed to another country half-way across the world. This is inhuman. These people deserve our compassion and welcome, not disdain and contempt.

“In these times of war and global suffering, we urge the government to rethink the Nationality and Borders Bill, and refocus on human dignity.”

The SVP believes that the UK should embed a culture of welcome to people fleeing their homeland to reach safety on our shores, only then will the UK be seen internationally as an enlightened, truly democratic and egalitarian nation.