United Kingdom Supreme Court rejects plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda

The London Supreme Court has declared the United Kingdom (UK) government’s policy of sending certain asylum seekers to Rwanda illegal, and at this point no one has been relocated to Rwanda as an asylum seeker, while a legal challenge forced the cancellation of the maiden flight.

Penpushing reports that the court ruled that there was a chance that any asylum applicant brought there would be sent back home, in violation of both United Kingdom and international human rights legislation, and also mentioned Rwanda’s history of mistreating refugees and its dismal record on human rights as reasons for its decision.

The five-year pilot in April 2022 called for sending certain asylum seekers to Rwanda to file claims for protection there, and they may have been awarded refugee status under the proposal, allowing them to remain in Rwanda.

Penpushing further reports that if not, they may have requested refuge in a different safe third country or applied to live there under other circumstances, while the strategy, according to the government, will discourage individuals from entering the United Kingdom via illegal, dangerous, or unnecessary methods, such as travelling across the English Channel in tiny boats. In 2022, more than 45,700 travellers arrived in the United Kingdom using this route, the largest number since statistics were kept.

The number of asylum seekers who could have been sent to Rwanda remained unclear, however, before 1 January 2022, the government said that anyone entering the United Kingdom illegally may be sent, with no cap on the numbers.

Penpushing also reports that as per the agreement, Rwanda has the option to request that United Kingdom accept some of its most vulnerable refugees, although the United Kingdom has already given the Rwandan government £140 million (approximately $174 million), the total cost of the programme has not been disclosed.

The report has it that an economic impact study done for the government’s Illegal Migration Bill,  would cost £63,000 (approximately $73,000) more to remove each person to a third country, like Rwanda, than to keep them in the United Kingdom.

Penpushing reports that the case was being heard against the backdrop of the public immigration debate in Britain, which had a role in the country’s 2016 referendum vote to exit the European Union, while more than 25,000 individuals have entered Britain illegally on tiny boats this year, surpassing the record 45,755 that were found in 2022.

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