AA / Ankara / Faruk Zorlu
Britain’s highly controversial bill that plans to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda was signed into law after King Charles approved it on Tuesday, British media reported.
The Lord Speaker told the upper house of the British Parliament that the bill, which will now be known as the Rwanda Security (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024, had received royal assent, according to Sky News .
After months of controversy between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the bill, aimed at transferring irregular migrants to Rwanda, was adopted by Parliament on Monday.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced that the first planes carrying irregular migrants are expected to leave for Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks.
The Rwanda Plan, one of the most controversial migration policies of Sunak’s Conservative government, has sparked international criticism and mass protests across the UK.
The law is expected to comply with concerns raised by the UK Supreme Court, which ruled that the government’s initial plan to send asylum seekers to the East African country of Rwanda was unlawful.
The law considers Rwanda a safe country and gives ministers the power to disregard parts of the human rights law.
In January 2023, Sunak said tackling small boats of irregular migrants, who cross the Channel from France, was among his government’s top five priorities following the crossings of more than 45,000 people believed to have used that route to enter the UK in 2022.
* Translated from English by Mounir Bennour.
Only part of the dispatches, which the Anadolu Agency broadcasts to its subscribers via the Internal Broadcasting System (HAS), is broadcast on the AA website, in summary form. Please contact us to subscribe.
