A German migration expert has cast doubts on Denmark’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, warning that the policy will likely be scrapped by European judges.
Migration expert Franck Düvell has claimed that Denmark may not be able to carry out its policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda to await their asylum process decision as it may be a violation of the European Convention on Human rights.
Düvell stated that the idea of exporting asylum seekers to third countries is not a new policy but said that it was unlikely such a policy would manage to pass the European Court of Human rights and not be struck down, the European Union-funded website InfoMigrants reports.
There is also the possibility, InfoMigrants notes, that the United Kingdom could be prevented from sending asylum seekers to Rwanda under its own plans, as the country is still a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights enforced by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) despite leaving the European Union.
The EU demanded that Britain remain subject to the European Court of Human Rights as part of a Brexit deal with the country — despite the fact the ECtHR is technically not an EU institution — and Prime Minister Boris Johnson submitted to those demands.
Düvell is not the first to be sceptical of the British deal with Rwanda, as Brexit leader Nigel Farage stated last month that he did not believe the deal would be a long-term solution to the issue of illegal boat migrants crossing the English Channel.
“If — and I really mean if — within the next week we start seeing planeloads being taken to Rwanda, that may well act as a short-term deterrent. After all, why would you pay a criminal trafficker 3,000 euros, 5,000 euros if you thought immediately you would be sent to Rwanda?” Farage observed.
He added, however, that he did not think the plan would work, as it is “difficult to think of a country with a much worse recent human rights record than Rwanda and it’s only a matter of time before we start to get stories from camps in Rwanda about abuses of all kinds and that would lead, I think, to some sense of international outrage.”
While there have been reports that some migrants in France are concerned over the Rwanda deal, with some claiming they may start looking to claim asylum in another country, boats have continued to arrive in the United Kingdom.
Last Sunday, over 250 migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats, suggesting that, at least for now, they remain undeterred by the Rwanda scheme.