Do you agree with the government’s policy towards Rwanda? Poll of the week

Yahoo UK’s weekly poll lets you cast your vote and express your feelings on one of the hottest topics of the week. After 72 hours, the poll will close. We’ll publish and analyse the results every Friday, giving readers a chance to see how polarising a topic has become and whether their opinion aligns with other Yahoo UK readers.

Parliament has approved a plan for the UK to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The government’s controversial Rwandan Security (Asylum and Immigration) Bill was passed on Tuesday morning after a long night of debate in the House of Commons and House of Lords.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says the policy will deter migrants from trying to cross the English Channel.

Five people, including a child, died off the coast of northern France on Tuesday morning when a small boat carrying more than 110 people ran into trouble after leaving Wimereux.

Sunak said the incident “underlines why we need a deterrent” and that criminal gangs are taking advantage of the vulnerable and “packing more and more people into these unseaworthy dinghies”.

Under the government’s plan, any asylum seeker who they believe enters the UK “illegally” could be sent to Rwanda to have their asylum application considered.

If their application is successful, they will be able to receive refugee status and be allowed to remain in Rwanda, and if they are unsuccessful, they will be able to apply to settle in Rwanda on other grounds or seek asylum in another “safe” country. They will not be able to apply to return to the UK.

Sunak said on Monday that the first flight to Rwanda could take place in 10 to 12 weeks, that the airport was on standby and that the government had already booked commercial charter planes.

However, the United Nations has criticised the plan, with Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, urging Sunak to reconsider the decision, saying it sets a “worrying global precedent”.

Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said it “seriously undermines the rule of law in the UK” and limits the ability of British courts to review removal decisions and restricts human rights protections.

At the center of the debate is the right to asylum, enshrined in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:

1. Everyone has the right to seek and benefit from asylum in other countries in case of persecution.

2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions actually arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Come back on Friday for the results and analysis by clicking the link below.

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