Rwanda plans are an affront to democracy and human rights, say Greens
6 December 2023
Responding to the government publishing plans to disapply sections of the Human Rights Act to get around a Supreme Court ruling banning the deportation of people seeking asylum to Rwanda for processing, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said:
“The fact that the government is going to try to use its parliamentary majority to over-ride established human rights protections is an affront to democracy.
“We need a system that welcomes refugees through clear, open, safe and legal routes, that offers quick and efficient determinations and support for resettlement into local communities with properly funded local services.”
“Instead of creating an asylum system that works, the government is deliberately making it chaotic and inaccessible to put people off using their right to seek asylum.
“It is the use of cruelty and inhumanity as a tool of public policy and cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.
“Everyone deserves to be treated in a way that is fair and humane. This new legislation will remove fundamental legal protections designed to protect us all from the arbitrary power of the state.”