Human Rights and UK Government
According to the Public Law Project [1], the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill [2] disables important human rights safeguards by disapplying most of the Human Rights Act 1998 and requiring domestic judges to disregard international law and interim measures of the European Court of Human Rights.
The Bill returned to the House of Commons on January 16 2024 and during the debate Sir John Hayes MP said that “it’s a liberal myth that human rights are natural”.
The above audio file is part of the BBC radio programme The Week in Westminster broadcast on 20 January [3] during which chief political commentator of the i Newspaper Paul Waugh hosted John Hayes and Labour’s Baroness Hayter who discussed, among other things, the source of human rights and whether governments should set them aside when it is not convenient, or should the UK government respect human rights even when it is inconvenient and prevents them passing the legislation they want? Can the UK continue to be a member of the European Convention on Human Rights? What will happen to the Rwanda Bill in the House of Lords?
For further thoughts on the Rwanda Bill’s human rights implications see the Joint Committee on Human Rights session in which Lord Sumption and Lord Sandhurst were questioned [4].
Note that this Bill is not the first time that the UK government has threatened to break international law. On September 2020, secretary of state for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis admitted the government of Boris Johnson was happy to break international law and override an international Brexit treaty with the EU relating to Northern Ireland in its Internal Market Bill [5].
References
[1] Why MPs must oppose the ‘Safety of Rwanda’ Bill: https://publiclawproject.org.uk/resources/why-mps-must-oppose-the-safety-of-rwanda-bill/
[2] Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-of-rwanda-asylum-and-immigration-bill-policy-statement/safety-of-rwanda-asylum-and-immigration-bill-policy-statement-accessible
[3] The Week in Westminster 20 Jan 2024: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001vkz7
[4] Lord Sumption and Lord Sandhurst questioned on Rwanda Bill human rights implications: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/93/human-rights-joint-committee/news/199528/lord-sumption-and-lord-sandhurst-questioned-on-rwanda-bill-human-rights-implications/
[5] Johnson government to re-write Human Rights law and “embrace of lawlessness”: https://unacov.uk/johnson-government-to-re-write-human-rights-law-and-embrace-of-lawlessness/