Archbishop slams UK's Rwanda asylum plan as 'against the nature of God'
The head of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has strongly attacked the British government's highly controversial plan to fly some asylum-seekers to Rwanda as "against the nature of God".
Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, said in his Easter sermon he believes that sending asylum seekers abroad poses "serious ethical questions".
The UK government's deal with Rwanda, worth £120 million (€144 million) and announced on Thursday, would see asylum-seekers arriving "illegally" in Britain being flown thousands of miles to the east African country.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed the move would stop "vile" people-smugglers from sending migrants on dangerous voyages across the English Channel.
"There are such serious ethical questions about sending asylum seekers overseas. The details are for politics and politicians. The principle must stand the judgement of God and it cannot," the archbishop said.
"It cannot carry the weight of our national responsibility as a country formed by Christian values, because sub-contracting out our responsibilities, even to a country that seeks to do well like Rwanda, is the opposite of the nature of God who himself took responsibility for our failures."
Under the plan, migrants arriving in Britain on unauthorised boats crossing the English Channel or as stowaways would be picked up by the UK government and relocated 6,400 kilometres to Rwanda. It's not clear what would happen to them afterwards.
The UK Home Office (interior ministry) has again defended the plan.
"The world is facing a global migration crisis on an unprecedented scale and change is needed to prevent vile people smugglers putting people’s lives at risk and to fix the broken global
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