Tomorrow the first flight to Rwanda will take off with eleven refugees

The British Justice has just examined an urgent appeal against the controversial plan of the British Government to send Rwanda migrants and asylum seekers who have arrived illegally in the UK. Is about one of the most controversial measures adopted by the Executive of Boris Johnson after Brexit. This Tuesday, a plane was scheduled to travel to the African country, located 7,000 km from London and with a worrying balance in terms of human rights, to the first eight expelled.

The NGOs `Care4Calais´ and `Detention Action´ – together with several asylum seekers – had already tried to prevent it last Friday by legal means denouncing, with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a “political illegal”. The High Court rejected their arguments, but they went to the Court of Appeals.

The point is that of the 31 candidates for expulsion registered last week -including Syrians, Iranians, Iraqis, Egyptians and Afghans who fled the Taliban-, 23 of them received notification from the authorities over the weekend that their ticket had been canceled. In theory, eight should leave on the flight scheduled for this Tuesday. But, at the close of this edition, everything indicated that finally there would be eight that will fly to Rwanda.

Downing Street negotiated this controversial plan a few months ago with Rwanda, which already has a hotel ready to accommodate about 100 migrants. Its authorities must initially receive 144 million euros to welcome them and “give them a legal path for residence” so that they can “settle permanently, if they so wish,” according to the foreign minister of the African country, Vincent Buruta.

London’s objective with this system, which has been criticized by the UN and the Church among other organizations, is to discourage the crossing of migrants from the French coast. So far this year, more than 10,000 arrived in the country illegally crossing the English Channel in precarious boatsone of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

“Criminal groups that endanger the lives of people in the English Channel must understand that their business model will collapse under this Government”, Johnson defended in an interview with LBC radio. The Prime Minister plans to participate from June 20 in Rwanda at a meeting of the Commonwealth, the British Commonwealth made up of 54 countries.

There he must meet with the president Paul Kagamewhich has ruled the country since the end of the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people died, and whose government is regularly accused of suppress freedom of expression and political opposition.

Also participating in the meeting will be Prince carlos73-year-old heir to the British throne, which The Times reported on Saturday privately described Johnson’s plan of “appalling”.

NGOs especially fear for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, after the British Home Office itselfadmitted his “concerns” about the treatment reserved for sexual and gender minorities in that African country.

The migrants concerned are “overwhelmed with shock and despair”, Clare Moseley, founder of `Care4Calais´, had affirmed on Friday. “Many came to UK believing it was a good place that would treat them more fairly than the countries they fled”, he added.

The British Home Secretary, Pritti Patel, acknowledged in late May that the new policy would face challenges in court. But he assured: “I will not be dissuaded and remain fully committed to delivering what the British public expects”. Migration control was one of the main issues in the Brexit campaign.