The High Court in London has ruled in favour of the British government’s plans to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda, and to leave them there if they have their application for asylum in the UK rejected.
On Monday, two judges at the Royal Courts of Justice ruled that the policy was “lawful.”
Lord Justice Lewis, sitting with Mr. Justice Swift, dismissed the challenges against the policy but ruled that the government had acted wrongly in the case of eight asylum seekers.
The main ruling is expected to be taken to the Court of Appeal by those opposed to the policy.
The opposition Labour Party has said it would drop the Rwanda policy if it wins the next general election.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is in the Latvian capital Riga, welcomed the decision, saying, “We’ve always maintained that our Rwanda policy is lawful, and I’m pleased that was confirmed today and this is just one part of our plan to tackle illegal migration.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said, “We always maintained that this policy is lawful and today the court has upheld this.”
She added, “Our ground-breaking migration partnership with Rwanda will provide individuals relocated with support to build new lives there, while disrupting the business model of people-smuggling gangs putting lives at risk through dangerous and illegal small boat crossings.”
Green MP Calls Rwanda Policy ‘Morally Bankrupt’
Reacting to the appeal on Twitter, the Green MP Caroline Lucas wrote: “Deeply disappointing from High Court on #Rwanda scheme but it’s still inhumane, morally bankrupt & unworkable - idea of trading our asylum obligations with other countries must be abandoned & gross degrading of human rights rejected.”Then-Home Secretary Priti Patel signed a “world-first” agreement with Rwanda in April which would have seen the East African country turned into an effective waiting room where hundreds or even thousands of people who had arrived in Britain illegally would have been sent while awaiting the processing of their claims for asylum.
Hours earlier, the High Court had refused to block the flight to Rwanda. Mr. Justice Swift rejected a request for an interim injunction to stop the flight but did not rule on whether or not the policy was lawful.
Patel was replaced as home secretary by Suella Braverman in September and Prime Minister Boris Johnson was replaced by Liz Truss and then Rishi Sunak, but the ruling Conservative Party had maintained that it intended to push ahead with the Rwanda policy, which it said was the only way to deter illegal immigrants from making the dangerous crossing from France across the English Channel.
Under the UK government’s plan, those who are refused permission to stay in Britain would be left in Rwanda.
Charities Argued Rwanda Not a Safe Place for UK Asylum Seekers
They told the judges Rwanda was an “authoritarian state” that “tortures and murders those it considers to be its opponents” and was therefore not a safe place to send people for whom Britain was legally responsible.Raza Husain, QC, a barrister representing those challenging the policy, told the court, “Rwanda is in substance a one-party authoritarian state with extreme levels of surveillance that does not tolerate political opposition.”
Husain said the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has raised a number of concerns about Rwanda’s record with refugees, including a failure to provide reasons for refusal.
The UNHCR itself told the court Rwanda “lacks irreducible minimum components of an accessible, reliable, fair, and efficient asylum system” and it feared the policy would lead to a serious risk of breaches of the U.N.’s Refugee Convention.
The home secretary’s legal team, led by Lord Pannick, QC and Sir James Eadie, QC, argued there was no risk of those who are not granted refugee status in Rwanda being sent back to their home country, adding, “Rwanda does not conduct forcible removals to the countries of which these claimants are nationals.”
The Home Office insisted the Rwanda policy was “not unlawful” and the memorandum of understanding agreed with the government in Kigali provides assurances about a “safe and effective” refugee status determination procedure.
The majority of illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel are Albanian, Afghan, Iranian, or Eritrean.
Rwanda has been ruled since 1994 by President Paul Kagame, an ethnic Tutsi, whose RPF rebel group took power in the wake of the genocide of almost a million Tutsis by extremists from the majority Hutu tribe.
Kagame has been accused of not brooking dissent and of authorising the assassination of political rivals in Rwanda and abroad. Last year Paul Rusesabagina, a businessman whose role in saving hundreds of lives during the genocide inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda,” was jailed for 25 years on terrorism charges after being allegedly kidnapped in Dubai.
But the British government says those deported to Rwanda would be given “adequate accommodation,” food, free medical assistance, and education and language would be provided with “integration programmes” as part of a package which has cost £120 million.
