EU warns UK immigration bill ‘violates international law’ as minister says ‘thousands’ of refugees could be sent to Rwanda
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has suggested “thousands” of refugees could be sent to Rwanda under the government’s new plan to stop Channel crossings – despite no-one having been deported there since the beginning of the scheme last April
The Conservative MP told Sky News’ The Take with Sophy Ridge that the partnership with the east African nation is “uncapped” and “they are willing to take as many people as is required”.
The comments came as the EU joined the international backlash against the controversial Illegal Immigration Bill.
In an interview with Politico, European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said she had spoken to Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Tuesday “and I told her that I think that this is violating international law”.
The intervention risks reigniting hostilities with the EU as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak prepares to meet with his French counterpart to discuss his crackdown on asylum seekers.
The new legislation proposed by the government means refugees arriving on small boats in the UK will be detained and deported “within weeks” – either to their own country if it is safe or a third nation if it is not.
Charities, the UN and human rights groups have claimed the proposals aren’t legal while questions have also swirled about how it will work in practice.
While the government has return agreements with certain countries like Albania, it was put to Mr Jenrick that 4,500 people who arrived by small boat last year were from war-torn Syria “and you are not just going to pick up the phone to Assad are you?”.
He told Sky’s The Take with Sophy Ridge: “That’s the reason why we need safe third countries like Rwanda, and we want to get that arrangement up and running as soon as possible.”
The controversial deportation policy has been grounded by the courts since it was announced by former home secretary Priti Pratel last April
The government previously said the scheme will have an initial capacity for 200 people but Mr Jenrick insisted it will be “an unlimited arrangement” once flights take off.
“The scheme with Rwanda is uncapped so the Rwandan government, and we have spoken to them again this week, Rishi Sunak spoke to Paul Kagame, his opposite number, they are willing to take as many people as is required,” he said.
Mr Jenrick refused to put an estimate on how many people the government thinks it will need to send to the east African nation saying “it depends how many people are crossing the Channel at that time”.
But he added: “If it requires thousands of people to be sent to Rwanda, then we will send thousands of people to Rwanda”.
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Home Secretary: Plans won’t break the law
Earlier, Home Secretary Suella Braverman told Sky News small boat crossings will “fall dramatically” under her asylum plans but could not say when removals will begin.
She said the government will be “expanding our detention capacity to meet the need very soon” but said “I’m not going to give precise dates” because “we’ve got logistical challenges that we’re always overcoming”.
The cabinet minister also insisted the plans are legal, despite acknowledging they may not be compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Mr Sunak has acknowledged the legislation may come up against challenges in the courts but insisted his is “up for the fight”, branding critics like Sir Keir Starmer “leftie lawyers”.
The prime minister is due to meet French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, where he is expected to be asked to boost payments to Paris stop small boat journeys.
Read more:
Is the Illegal Migration Bill legal?
Braverman accused of ‘cowardly attack’ on civil servants after letter blames them for inaction on small boat crossings
Mr Jenrick did not rule out additional funding, saying the government wants to increase the number of French patrols of the Channel and improve intelligence sharing.
He said: “What we are seeking to achieve is a number of things, one of which is more police officers on the beaches and the hinterland in northern France so that we can intercept as many of these boats as possible.
“We also want our intelligence services to be cooperating and working together in real time so that when we learn about what the criminal gangs are doing, we get that information to our French counterparts and they take action.”
World
‘Widespread sexual violence’ took place during Hamas’s 7 October attacks, report by Israeli experts says
A newly released report led by Israeli legal and gender experts presents detailed evidence alleging “widespread and systematic” sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attack on 7 October.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of rape and sexual violence
The findings, published by the Dinah Project, argue that these acts amount to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), and assert that “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war”.
The report draws on 18 months of investigation and is based on survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with first responders, morgue personnel and healthcare professionals.
According to the Dinah Project, the documented patterns – such as forced nudity, gang rapes, genital mutilation, and threats of forced marriage – indicate a deliberate and coordinated use of sexual violence by Hamas operatives during the attack.
Reported incidents span at least six locations, including the Nova music festival, and several kibbutzim in southern Israel.
A destroyed car near the police station in Sderot, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Pic: AP
One section of the report describes victims “found fully or partially naked from the waist down, with their hands tied behind their backs and/or to structures such as trees and poles, and shot”.
At the Nova music festival and surrounding areas, the investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” that multiple women were raped or gang-raped before being killed.
The report’s findings are consistent with earlier investigations by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Read more:
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Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
The UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict previously concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” CRSV took place during the attack.
Destroyed vehicles near the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival. Pic: AP
Significantly, the Dinah Project urges the international community to officially recognise the use of sexual violence by Hamas as a deliberate strategy of war and calls on the United Nations to add Hamas to its list of parties responsible for conflict-related sexual violence.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The nature and scale of sexual violence on 7 October have been a subject of intense controversy, with some accusing parties of weaponising the narrative for political ends.
This report seeks to confront what its authors call “denial, misinformation, and global silence,” and to provide justice for the victims.
Hamas has denied that its fighters have used sexual violence and mistreated female hostages.
World
Israeli soldiers ‘psychologically broken’ after ‘confronting the reality’ in Gaza, UN expert says
A UN expert has said some young soldiers in the Israeli Defence Forces are being left “psychologically broken” after “confront[ing] the reality among the rubble” when serving in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was responding to a Sky News interview with an Israeli solider who described arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza.
She told The World with Yalda Hakim that “many” of the young people fighting in Gaza are “haunted by what they have seen, what they have done”.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Ms Albanese said. “This is not a war, this is an assault against civilians and this is producing a fracture in many of them.
“As that soldier’s testimony reveals, especially the youngest among the soldiers have been convinced this is a form of patriotism, of defending Israel and Israeli society against this opaque but very hard felt enemy, which is Hamas.
“But the thing is that they’ve come to confront the reality among the rubble of Gaza.”
An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. Pic: AP
Being in Gaza is “probably this is the first time the Israeli soldiers are awakening to this,” she added. “And they don’t make sense of this because their attachment to being part of the IDF, which is embedded in their national ideology, is too strong.
“This is why they are psychologically broken.”
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he believes the Sky News interview with the former IDF solider “reflects one part of how ugly, difficult and horrible fighting in a densely populated, urban terrain is”.
“I think [the ex-soldier] is reflecting on how difficult it is to fight in such an area and what the challenges are on the battlefield,” he said.
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Ex-IDF spokesperson: ‘No distinction between military and civilians’
‘An economy of genocide’
Ms Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts, also said her most recent report for the human rights council has identified “an economy of genocide” in Israel.
The system, she told Hakim, is made up of more than 60 private sector companies “that have become enmeshed in the economy of occupation […] that have Israel displace the Palestinians and replace them with settlers, settlements and infrastructure Israel runs.”
Israel has rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to defend itself after Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.
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‘Israel has shifted towards economy of genocide’
The companies named in Ms Albanese’s report are in, but not limited to, the financial sector, big tech and the military industry.
“These companies can be held responsible for being directed linked to, or contributing, or causing human rights impacts,” she said. “We’re not talking of human rights violations, we are talking of crimes.”
“Some of the companies have engaged in good faith, others have not,” Ms Albanese said.
Read more:
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
British surgeons on life in Gaza
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The companies she has named include American technology giant Palantir, which has issued a statement to Sky News.
It said it is “not true” that Palantir “is the (or a) developer of the ‘Gospel’ – the AI-assisted targeting software allegedly used by the IDF in Gaza, and that we are involved with the ‘Lavender’ database used by the IDF for targeting cross-referencing”.
“Both capabilities are independent of and pre-ate Palantir’s announced partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry,” the statement added.
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