A charter airline hired to remove people seeking refuge in the UK to Rwanda has pulled out of the scheme after pressure from campaigners. A plane operated by Privilege Style first attempted to fly asylum seekers to the east African country in June but was grounded by an 11th hour ruling by the European court of human rights. The Mallorca-based carrier had become known as the UK government’s
“airline of last resort” for its willingness to conduct deportation flights that other airlines refused.
The UK signed a £120m deal with the Rwandan government in April to outsource the UK’s asylum system as it sought to find a solution to a growing number of refugees entering the UK via small boats in the Channel. The deal meant people who had arrived in the UK by irregular means, such as by small boat, could be forced on to charter planes and flown to the east African country. It was criticized by human rights Organization because of Rwanda’s record as an authoritarian state that repeatedly imprisons, tortures and murders alleged political opponents.
But after an email campaign by torture survivors and refugee organisations, Privilege Style has said it will no longer operate flights to Rwanda. The development will leave the UK government in a fix. Two other charter airlines that previously conducted deportation flights, Titan Airways and AirTanker, have already ruled themselves out of the scheme. In a letter to the charity Freedom from Torture, which has led the campaign under the hashtag #StopTheFlights, Privilege Style said it
“hereby wishes to communicate the following: that it will not operate flights to Rwanda in the future. That it has never flown to Rwanda since the one flight scheduled for June 2022 (which is the reason for this controversy) was suspended.”
