During the World Aviation Festival in Amsterdam during the first week of October, refugee activists made their way onto a stage during one of the panels to protest against airline involvement in the deportation of refugees from Europe. They specifically called out the Spanish carrier Privilege Style for their plans to collaborate with the UK government on its controversial plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. It is unclear how much the public protest itself has influenced the airline's decision, but following an email campaign by torture survivors and refugee activists, Privilege Style has said it will no longer operate these deportation flights.According to The Guardian, Privilege Style shared the following in a letter to the charity Freedom from Torture, which has led the campaign under the hashtag #StopTheFlights. It stated that the airline,

"...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.”

The airline confirmed the same statement to Simple Flying, clarifying that,

"We will never operate the flight to Rwanda since the one scheduled in June 2022, the reason for this controversy, was suspended and never flew."

No more of Braverman's "dream"

During the action at the WAF, Sepideh, a torture survivor from Iran, stated that the airline was "profiting from the pain of refugees" and called on the aviation industry to "stand up against cruelty." In the tweet above, one of the activists and another torture survivor, Kolbassia Haousso, referred to the now-former Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, and her comment at the beginning of the month that it was her "dream to see asylum seekers flown to Rwanda by Christmas."

Following Privilege Style's backing away from the deportation flights, Haousso commented,

“This is a victory for people power – for thousands who took action and for the torture survivors who stood up against the UK government’s cruel ‘cash for humans’ Rwanda scheme. When I fled torture and persecution in central Africa, the UK gave me sanctuary and a chance to rebuild my life. It breaks my heart to see the government turning their back on people like me in their hour of need, and that private companies are profiting from their suffering. Privilege Style’s decision to no longer fly torture survivors to Rwanda sends a message to the aviation industry: if you try and cash in on the pain of refugees, you will be held to account.”

Meanwhile, the Home Office responded by saying that it remained committed to its "world-leading" migration partnership with Rwanda and that it would continue to "robustly defend the partnerships in court," but that it did not comment on operational matters.

Source: The Guardian