Members of the House of Lords (upper house) agreed to stop tabling amendments and backed the motion recognising Rwanda as a safe destination after months of debate and opposition criticism. The plan, first announced two years ago by Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, could come into force after receiving royal assent from King Charles III, the BBC reported. The legislation, based on a new treaty between London and Kigali under which the UK will pay Rwanda substantial sums to take migrants, was brought forward after the UK Supreme Court ruled in November that the plan was unlawful. The House of Lords had been holding up the passage of the motion, demanding that an independent body verify Rwanda’s status as a safe country. Rwanda is one of the most stable countries on the African continent, but President Paul Kagame, in power for the past 24 years, has been accused of ruling with an iron fist and cracking down on dissent and free speech. The Lords also wanted assurances that UK officials, allies and family members of those serving in the UK armed forces, including Afghans who fought alongside British troops, would be exempt from the policy. Sunak said on Monday that the first deportation flights to Rwanda could take place in 10 to 12 weeks. Anticipating legal challenges that could take four to eight weeks, the prime minister said the capacity to hold migrants had been increased to 2,200 places, 200 caseworkers had been trained and dedicated, 25 courtrooms had been made available and 150 judges had been identified to hear cases. The legislation also allows the government to ignore injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights. “No foreign court will stop us,” Sunak said, vowing that the Rwanda deportations would go ahead “come what may”. The government’s plan has been criticised by the opposition Labour Party, migrant charities, the Church of England and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, who said it “flies in the face of the letter and spirit of the Refugee Convention”. Sunak hopes the policy will deter migrants from crossing the Channel illegally to enter the UK, with 6,265 having arrived so far this year. Last year, 29,437 people were detected arriving in small boats, down 36% from 45,774 in 2022. Read Also: WHO launches network to strengthen disease surveillance, outbreak response