U.K. Passes Controversial Rwanda Deportation Bill

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the United Kingdom’s newly approved Safety of Rwanda Bill, mass flooding in China, and demarcation efforts between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

London Seals Rwanda Deal

Five migrants, including a child, died on Tuesday while trying to cross the English Channel to Britain—mere hours after the U.K. Parliament passed controversial legislation that allows London to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda.

“We introduced the Rwanda bill to deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous crossings and break the business model of the criminal gangs who exploit them,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, pointing to Tuesday’s deaths as “what tragically happens” when migration goes unchecked. More than 6,000 people—many in small, packed boats—have migrated to Britain this year via the English Channel.

Under the so-called Safety of Rwanda Bill, anyone who arrived “illegally” in Britain after Jan. 1, 2022—that is, asylum-seekers who came without authorization from another safe country, essentially meaning those who arrived by dinghy via the English Channel—will be sent to the Rwandan capital of Kigali, where they will either be granted asylum and resettled in Rwanda or be sent to a third country. According to the BBC, 52,000 people in Britain meet those criteria. Sunak said the first flights will depart in 10 to 12 weeks, with multiple flights occurring each month. He did not specify how many flights were planned nor for how many migrants.

The law compels British judges to consider Rwanda “a safe country” and gives ministers the power to ignore future international court rulings that may go against the measure. There are no provisions in place to amend the law if conditions change in Kigali. Although Rwanda is considered one of Africa’s most stable countries, some regional experts have accused President Paul Kagame of suppressing political dissent and other authoritarian practices.

Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said Kigali is “pleased” with the U.K. Parliament’s decision and looks “forward to welcoming those relocated to Kigali.”

Then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson first introduced the Rwanda bill in April 2022, only for the European Court of Human Rights to block it two months later. Britain’s Supreme Court then ruled in November 2023 that Rwanda was not a safe country for migrants to be transported to, arguing that they risked being sent back to their countries of origin. The court pointed to evidence of Rwanda’s poor human rights record as well as “serious and systematic defects” in how it processes asylum claims. It also noted that in 2021, the U.K. government itself criticized Rwanda for “extrajudicial killings, deaths in custody, enforced disappearances and torture.”

Still, Sunak pushed for the law’s passage, hoping to appease his divided Conservative Party ahead of general elections scheduled for no later than January 2025. The opposition Labour Party vowed to scrap the law if it takes power. “No foreign court will stop us from getting flights off,” Sunak said.

Yet, analysts expect the Rwanda bill to face numerous legal hurdles, both from individuals slated for deportation and rights groups. Amnesty International U.K. said the plan “takes a hatchet to international legal protections for some of the most vulnerable people in the world,” and United Nations special rapporteurs warned airlines that they could be “complicit in violating internationally protected human rights and court orders” if they conduct the flights.

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What We’re Following

Torrential flooding. Continued heavy rains since Friday have caused massive flooding and prompted Chinese authorities to raise alarms in the southern province of Guangdong on Tuesday to the highest level in a four-tier rainstorm warning system. Floods of this magnitude usually don’t occur in the region until late June. Yet over the past week, flash floods have killed at least four people and forced more than 110,000 others to evacuate. At least 25,000 Chinese have been displaced to emergency shelters, and another 10 people remain missing. State media called the crisis a “once in a century” flood, and local officials warned of more to come.

This year, Guangdong has already recorded the highest monthly rainfall since record-keeping began in 1959, with at least 44 rivers in the Pearl River basin swelling above the warning line. According to a United Nations report published on Tuesday, Asia was the continent most affected by climate and weather events in 2023. “Floods were the leading cause of death in reported events in 2023 by a substantial margin,” the World Meteorological Organization said, recording more than 2,000 people killed and another 9 million people directly impacted.

Demarcation in progress. Armenia and Azerbaijan installed their first border marker on Tuesday as part of an agreement that U.S. and European Union diplomats are calling an important step toward peace. As part of the deal, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to give Baku four abandoned villages that Armenian forces took from Azerbaijan in the 1990s. Several small sections of a vital trade highway to Georgia may also be handed over.

“Beyond the internationally recognized borders, Armenia has no aspirations, no claims, and we hope that in the border delimitation process, the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia will be restored,” Pashinyan said.

Last September, Azerbaijani troops recaptured the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region from Armenian separatists in a one-day lightning offensive. Since then, several countries have tried to mediate talks between the two nations—without success. Although foreign officials praised the start of demarcation, Armenians near the settlements protested the decision, arguing that they are now on the front lines and could become isolated from the rest of the country.

Suspended services. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry announced plans on Tuesday to suspend consular services for men of military fighting age who are living abroad. Thousands of Ukrainian men ages 18 to 60 have left Ukraine either to avoid the draft in Kyiv’s war against Russia or for other purposes, such as work or school. Ukrainian martial law bans all men aged 18 and over from leaving the country. Although the announcement did not specify which consular services would be impacted, it did say the new restrictions “do not affect the provision of consular assistance in emergency situations with Ukrainian citizens abroad.”

Ukrainian officials fear that a full-scale Russian offensive could occur in the next few weeks, with Ukrainian troops reportedly involved in 86 combat situations on Monday alone. To prepare for such an assault, President Volodymyr Zelensky lowered the age of conscription from 27 to 25 earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote late Tuesday or Wednesday on whether to approve a $95 billion emergency spending package, $61 billion of which would go toward supporting Ukraine’s war effort. The bill also provides $26 billion in aid to Israel and humanitarian relief to war zones, such as Gaza, as well as $8 billion to counter China in the Indo-Pacific, specifically regarding Taiwan. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to approve the legislation and is already preparing another aid package for Kyiv worth around $1 billion, CNN reported.

Odds and Ends

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape criticized Biden on Sunday for implying that “cannibals” may have eaten the U.S. president’s late uncle after he was shot down over the area during World War II. “President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such,” Marape said. U.S. military records say nothing about Biden’s relative being shot down or eaten, only that the plane was forced to “ditch in the ocean” off the northern coast of New Guinea for unknown reasons and that “[t]hree men failed to emerge from the sinking wreck and were lost in the crash.” A fourth crew member survived the crash and was rescued by a passing barge.