[247 every moment] Will Paddington Bears be expelled too: UK's Rwandan refugee resettlement plan temporarily thwarted

On June 14, staff at the UK Home Office posted an expulsion notice on the Home Office notice board. The notice stated that the famous British cartoon character Paddington Bear (Paddington Bear) has been included in the list of refugees who need to be transferred to Rwanda for resettlement, and he is now officially wanted. In the comics, Paddington was smuggled into the UK on a cruise ship and eventually settled in London. The Twitter account "Our Home Office" said it did so in protest of a plan by the British government in April to transport refugees to Rwanda for resettlement, and placed "refugees welcome" stickers inside the Home Office's offices.

On April 14, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the government had launched a new resettlement scheme that would "provide" refugees seeking asylum in the UK a "one-way ticket" to Rwanda, and encouraged them to start a new settlement in Rwanda. Life. Johnson insists the plan is to smash the smugglers who organise refugee trips to the UK and reduce the number of refugees travelling to the UK by sea to seek asylum.

The plan was criticized from all walks of life in the UK after its launch. Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary for the official opposition Labour party, said the policy "is an unworkable and unethical policy". "UNHCR does not support asylum countries outsourcing their asylum obligations under international law to other countries," a UNHCR spokesman said. Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, stressed that the British government had violated the principles of the Refugee Convention, which requires people to have a fair hearing in the UK to determine whether they qualify as refugees.

Three organisations, including the Public and Commercial Services union (Public and Commercial Services), have lodged applications for judicial review with the UK judiciary to confirm the scheme is seriously unlawful. Medical professional organisations such as the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Midwives and Medecins Sans Frontiers emphasised in a joint letter, "We object on medical, ethical and humanitarian grounds. this policy". All the bishops of the Church of England signed a joint open letter on June 14 criticizing "this policy shames our country", in which they said, "We cannot offer asylum to all , but we cannot outsource our moral responsibilities or abandon international law that protects the right to claim asylum.”

But the plan is still moving forward. On May 14, Johnson said that 50 people had received "notices of intent" and that the government had so far not made public selection criteria. On June 7, the British government identified a list of 130 people on the "first flight", most of whom were victims of torture and human trafficking, according to journalist Diane Taylor. Judicial review was filed by 80 people on the list who claimed the "right to family life" and other rights under UK human rights law.

On June 8, Johnson attacked "left-wing lawyers undermining everything we're trying to do", and the inaugural list was reduced to 30 after some successfully obtained court injunctions. As of the morning of June 14, when the flight was scheduled to take off, only seven people remained on the list, and their attempts to apply for a temporary injunction had all failed. However, on the evening of June 14, the European Court of Human Rights made a provisional ruling, requesting the British government to suspend the flight and wait for the court to examine whether the British government's actions violated the European Convention on Human Rights. The flight was subsequently cancelled.

The Home Secretary insisted the plan would go ahead. Johnson attacked lawyers assisting refugees for "abetting criminal gangs", a statement that quickly angered the legal community. The Bar Council and The Law Society said in a joint statement that "the Prime Minister's suggestion that lawyers making judicial review are doing work outside of their duties and obligations to uphold the law is extremely dangerous and Misleading. Anyone facing a change in their life situation has the right to a judicial review with the assistance of a lawyer who is obliged to provide legal advice to their client.” Labour has called the eviction plan a "stunt" that wastes public money.

It is not yet clear whether there will be the next refugee flight to Rwanda. Both UK courts and the European Court of Human Rights will formally review whether the policy is illegal within July. The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has confirmed to Parliament that there is currently no evidence the scheme has reduced the number of refugees seeking asylum in the UK.

(Editor in charge: New Bremen)