Protests against Britain’s Rwanda plan on the same day five died in the English Channel

– The British government should refrain from deporting people under the Rwanda policy and reverse the bill’s violation of judicial independence, says the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty.

The UN is also asking Britain to reconsider the plan.

– The new law marks a further step away from the UK’s long tradition of providing refuge to those who need it, and is contrary to the Refugee Convention, says Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Alerts challenge

The law was passed in the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament on Monday evening, and an element has been inserted to circumvent a ruling from the country’s highest court that the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful.

Several lawyers have announced that they will challenge the new plan by bringing individual cases, write The Guardian.

In a statement on Tuesday, Rwanda’s government says it is satisfied that the law has been passed in the British Parliament and that it looks forward to welcoming those who have been resettled to Rwanda.

Five perished

The day after the Rwanda plan was adopted, French police say at least five people died trying to cross the English Channel from France to Britain.

Among the dead is a child, according to local authorities in France. About 110 people were on board the overcrowded boat when it capsized.

The coast guard is working on the search and rescue operation on Tuesday morning.

British Home Secretary James Cleverly says the government is doing everything it can to stop the dangerous crossings. On X/Twitter, he writes that “these tragedies must stop”.

– I will not accept a status quo that costs so many lives, writes Cleverly.

Tens of thousands of migrants – many fleeing war and poverty in Africa, the Middle East and Asia – have made their way to Britain across the Channel in recent years.