Amnesty International has described the Rwanda bill as an assault on the rule of law and the protection of human rights, and called on parliamentarians to “reject the bill”.

If passed, the bill will force courts in the UK to rule that Rwanda is a safe country for people claiming asylum in the UK to be sent to, despite the Supreme Court recently finding the country unsafe.

Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty UK’s chief executive, said: “We are strongly urging peers to end this dystopian horror game and stop playing with refugees’ lives, the rule of law and our human rights.

“This could all come to an end now if the government abandons the cruel policy of refusing to decide asylum claims this country receives — this policy is the root cause of why the asylum system has largely shut down in the UK.

“It’s now or never — we are urging peers to reject the Rwanda bill — refugees’ lives are not a game.”