Published: 23rd April 2024 In response to Parliament passing the Rwanda Bill on April 22, 2024, over 250 organisations have written to Rishi Sunak to “express their shared outrage” at this “shameful and performatively cruel law.” Read the joint letter here PLP believes that the Bill risks refugees’ safety, undermines the UK’s international obligations, and undercuts the courts’ role in protecting human rights – and all at enormous expense. We argued that the Bill will endanger vulnerable people for the following reasons: The Bill forces all officials to consider Rwanda to be safe – despite our Supreme Court finding only months ago that it was not. Ministers have only been able to say that Rwanda is “working towards” fulfilling its obligations to refugees, rather than satisfying them now. The Bill stops judges effectively protecting people’s human rights by disapplying most of the Human Rights Act. This removes essential protection from people, like refugees and trafficking victims, who need it most. The Bill allows Ministers to disregard interim measures – orders preventing removal where there is a threat to safety – from the European Court of Human Rights, and forces UK judges to ignore them. This undercuts our commitment to the ECHR and puts vulnerable people at risk. The UK can do better than this inhumane legislation. We will continue to support law and policy makers on all sides to make this stop and to build a system that values fairness and humanity. Read the joint letter here