LONDON, England
The United Kingdom government wanted to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda, but the policy has been ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.
The Court said there was a
risk that any asylum seeker sent there could be returned to their home country,
which would breach UK and international human rights laws.
The five-year trial -
announced in April 2022 - would have seen some asylum seekers sent to Rwanda to
claim asylum there.
Under the plan, they might
have been granted refugee status to stay in Rwanda. If not, they could have
applied to settle there on other grounds, or sought asylum in another
"safe third country".
No asylum seeker has actually
been sent to Rwanda. The first flight was scheduled to go in June 2022,
but was cancelled
after legal challenges.
The government said the policy
would deter people arriving in the UK through "illegal, dangerous or
unnecessary methods", such as on small boats which cross the English
Channel.
More than 45,700 people used
this route to come to the UK in 2022, the highest figure since records began.
As of 13 November, the number
of small boat crossings in 2023 was a third lower than at the same
point the year before, however it is not possible to say if the drop is the
result of government migration policies.
In October, shadow immigration
minister Stephen Kinnock said the weather had been partly responsible for the
fall in numbers, claiming that 2023 was "the wettest summer since
1912".
The UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the
Rwanda scheme is unlawful.
In their
ruling, the five top justices said the Court of Appeal had been right
to conclude in June that there had not been a proper assessment of whether
Rwanda was a safe country for asylum seekers.
Lord Reed, the Court
president, said there was strong evidence to believe that genuine refugees sent
to the country could be at risk of being returned to their home countries -
where they could face persecution.
This breaches part of
the European
Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which prohibits torture and
inhuman treatment. The UK is a signatory to the ECHR.
The Supreme Court judges also
cited Rwanda's poor human rights record, and its past treatment of refugees as
a factor in its decision.
In response, Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak said he remains "completely committed to stopping the
boats".
He told MPs in the House of
Commons that the government was in talks with Rwanda about a new treaty, and
was "prepared to change our laws" if necessary.
The Rwandan government said it
"takes issue" with the ruling that it is not a safe third country for
asylum seekers.
"We take our humanitarian
responsibilities seriously, and will continue to live up to them," it
added.
It was not clear how many
asylum seekers could have been sent to Rwanda.
The government previously
said "anyone
entering the UK illegally" after 1 January 2022 could be
sent, with no limit on numbers.
Under the deal, Rwanda could
also have asked the UK to
take in some of its most vulnerable refugees.
No comments:
Post a Comment