UK highest court’s decision to block govt’s Rwanda asylum deal welcomed by African refugees

Britain’s highest court unanimously ruled on Wednesday (15 November) that the government’s policy to deport more than 24,000 refugees to Rwanda in a controversial $174 million deal is unlawful, thus dealing a major blow to the governing Conservative Party’s efforts to stop illegal migration.
Justice Robert Reed, one of five judges on the panel, said the court supported an earlier Court of Appeal decision that found the East African country was not a safe place for refugees, stressing that the plan would breach both British and international law. This is widely seen as a major blow to this Conservative government’s flagship plan, long described as central to its pledge to stop the arrival of the small boats that cross the English Channel. “Today, the Supreme Court has judged that the Rwanda policy requires a set of changes in order to be lawful. I do not agree with this decision, but I respect it and accept it. The rule of law is fundamental to our democracy,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said after the ruling.
Somali and Sudanese refugees have said they were elated by the British court’s decision to block the government’s Rwanda asylum deal signed in April 2022, based on which the UK was to send undocumented migrants in chartered flights to the African nation for a five-year period. Rwanda would then be responsible for processing their asylum claims and either granting them refugee status or deporting them to their country of origin. Opposition politicians and rights groups widely criticized the policy from the start, with many pointing to Rwanda’s troubled record on human rights. “We have prepared for all outcomes of this case. And so we have been working on a new international treaty with Rwanda,” the UK prime minister commented.