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Dinghy reaches Great Britain (archive image): More than 5,400 people undertook the dangerous journey from January to March
Photo:
Gareth Fuller/dpa
Never before have so many people crossed the English Channel to Great Britain to flee in January, March and February of a year: According to the Home Office news agency, more than 5,400 people made the dangerous journey across the strait in the first quarter of the year . In the same period last year there were almost 3,800 people; the previous record was from 2022 with 4,500 people.
This is not good news for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative government. The government is currently trying to push a widely criticized bill through parliament with which it wants to save its asylum pact with Rwanda, which is actually intended to deter refugees. When the numbers fell at the end of last year, she felt this was confirmed.
The plans call for people who have entered the country without permission to be brought to the East African country in the future, regardless of their origin. You should then apply for asylum there. There are no plans to return to Great Britain. However, the highest court declared this procedure to be illegal, arguing that Rwanda did not have a reliable asylum procedure and was therefore not a safe country for those seeking protection.
The government now wants to overturn this ruling by law by declaring Rwanda safe. Opposition to this comes from the upper house, which made a number of changes to the draft. This will be discussed again in the House of Commons on April 15th.
spr/dpa