UN human rights chief says UK should rethink plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda

Exclusive: Volker Turk critical of scheme he considers ethically problematic and believes government must look again at how to deal with people-smuggling gangs and the treatment of refugees

The new UN human rights chief has urged the British government to reconsider its plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, warning that in the past similar offshoring" schemes had led to deeply inhuman" treatment of refugees.

In his first public comments on the controversy since taking office two months ago, Volker Turk rejected prime minister Rishi Sunak's description of the 140m deal as common sense", saying that as well as being legally and ethically problematic it was also very costly" and unlikely to work.