Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill

Lord McDonald of Salford Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 12th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Stewart of Dirleton (Con)]

People cannot be refouled to a different country under this treaty. They can be sent back to the United Kingdom; that is as far as it goes.

[Lord McDonald of Salford (CB)]

The Minister rests a great deal on a signature on a treaty with a country that—with the current Government—has in the last decade refouled over 4,000 refugees sent by Israel to Rwanda. That was the current Government of Rwanda behaving badly with refoulement. Why is the Minister so confident that the same Government are so fundamentally different and reformed?

[Lord Stewart of Dirleton (Con)]

Well, my Lords, the treaty is governed by our laws, by the Government of Rwanda and by international law. For a former diplomat, the noble Lord seems to have very little confidence in the ability of treaties to regulate the conduct of Governments between one another.