United Kingdom condemns court decision to block Rwanda deportation

• Britain’s justice secretary says the European Court of Human Rights overstepped its jurisdiction in halting asylum seekers’ deportation to Rwanda.
• Dominic Raab says flights will go ahead despite criticism from the UN, the Church of England and Prince Charles.
• Some in the UK have called for Britain to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.

Britain has no plans to exit the European Convention on Human Rights, but the Strasbourg court overstepped its jurisdiction in halting asylum seekers’ deportation to Rwanda, Dominic Raab said Thursday.

The government tried to deport a few migrants on a charter plane more than 4,000 miles (6,4000 kilometres) to Rwanda on Tuesday, but the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) cancelled the flight.

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Raab said the flights would go ahead despite criticism from the UN, the Church of England, and Prince Charles, who called the proposal “appalling.”

“Our plans involve staying within the Convention, the European Convention. It is also important the Strasbourg court reflects and stays faithful to its mandate as part of the convention,” he told the international news agency.

“The Strasbourg court itself has said for many years that there’s no binding power of injunction. And then later on they said: ‘Well actually, we can issue such binding injunctions.’ It is not grounded in the Convention,” International news agency.

Some in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party have called for Britain to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.

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The administration can’t say when it will send asylum applicants to Rwanda, he said.