LONDON, May 3 — Human rights group Asylum Aid said today it had launched a legal challenge to the British government’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda in the wake of a new law which seeks to pave the way for the scheme to be put into operation.

Parliament last month approved a law that paves the way for Britain to send asylum seekers who arrive without permission to Rwanda, with the new legislation designed to override a ruling last year by the UK Supreme Court that the scheme was unlawful.

Asylum Aid said the government’s Safety of Rwanda policy document, published on April 29 and which says all caseworkers must consider Rwanda to be a safe destination, was inconsistent with wording in the new law that allows asylum seekers the right of appeal, albeit in very limited circumstances.

"We have brought forward this legal action to ensure that the Home Office properly considers any individual cases against removal to Rwanda, including on the grounds that they would be returned from Rwanda to the place they fled,” said Alison Pickup, executive director of Asylum Aid. — Reuters