By UK Supreme Court Rules Rwanda Asylum Policy Illegal
UK government rolled out plans to send some asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda, but the policy has been ruled unlawful by the UK Apex court, 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.
What Was The Rwanda Asylum Plan?
The supposed 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”.
Up till now, this plan hasn’t yielded any result, as 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 Supreme Court today 15thn of November 2023 upheld a Court of Appeal ruling, which said the policy leaves people sent to Rwanda open to human rights breaches, stating that the policy cannot be implemented in its current form.
Rishi Sunak signalled he is not willing to give up on the plan, and has set out measures he says will revive it.
The controversial plan to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda and ban them from returning to the UK has been subject to legal challenges since it was first announced by former UK Prime minister Boris Johnson in April 2022.
The government has already spent about £140 Million on the scheme but flights were prevented from taking off in June last year after the Court of Appeal ruled the approach was unlawful due to a lack of human rights safeguards.
