The British government will present a bill on Wednesday that will allow the country to disregard decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has denied that the country will withdraw from the European court, but once the new legislation comes into force, it will no longer be the highest body.
The reason for the new bill is the legal obstacles that the European court has placed on the British government’s plan to fly illegal migrants to Rwanda. An agreement has been concluded with the African country for this.
However, the forced evictions have led to lawsuits and the human rights court in Strasbourg blocked the first flight of migrants to Kigali. Interior Minister Priti Patel called this a political judgement. If the new legislation is passed, the British Supreme Court will now have the last word.
The plan to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda is the result of the huge influx of migrants via boats across the Channel. This year the counter already stands at about ten thousand migrants who have made the crossing by boat and sometimes hundreds come ashore in one day by boats.
The European Court of Human Rights is separate from the European Union and was established to promote compliance with the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. Britain left the EU early last year after Britain voted for Brexit in 2016, but EU membership has nothing to do with the court in Strasbourg.