The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court found that Rwanda is not a safe third country for the government to send asylum seekers.
- According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), this is a huge victory that will protect the rights of countless people who have come to the UK seeking safety.
- The Supreme Court agreed with the Court of Appeal that there are substantial grounds for believing that asylum seekers removed to Rwanda would face a real risk of being returned to their home country where they could face ill-treatment, known as refoulement.
- This would put the UK in breach of its obligations of nonrefoulement under international and domestic law.
- Refoulement is the practice of sending migrants back to their unsafe home countries.
About the UK scheme
- In April 2022, then-UK PM Boris Johnson signed a deal with the Rwandan government, which would allow the UK to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda.
Johnson had hailed this move as one that would “save countless lives” from human trafficking.
- Under the scheme, people arriving in Britain as undocumented stowaways in trucks or boats, would be flown 6,400 km to Rwanda.
- Once there, they would be assessed for eventual resettlement in the African nation.
- The timeline for being deported to Rwanda could be as short as a couple of weeks, the Tory government had announced.
