The UK’s controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was ruled illegal by Britain’s highest court on Wednesday, in a likely irreversible defeat for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s migration policy.
The UK Court ruled unanimously against the government, relying on an earlier appeals court ruling that found the policy – which was roundly condemned by aid bodies – was not legal.
The ruling – which invalidated the government’s appeal – blocks an effort by the prime minister to bring asylum seekers arriving in the UK illegally to the east African nation. The plan was first announced in April 2022, but was marred by legal challenges and failed to deport a single person.
The decision is expected to lead to calls from the right of the Conservative Party for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), a prospect that has hung over the government for months and has caused deep divisions between left and right in the party that is in power.
The judges ruled that Rwanda could not be considered a safe country for sending asylum seekers, as the government argued, because there was a risk that refugees would be returned to the countries they had fled.
“There is substantial reason to believe that asylum seekers would face a real risk of mistreatment in their home countries if they were removed to Rwanda,” according to the ruling.
They considered that Rwanda’s system for processing asylum claims and its poor human rights record meant that the UK government could not be sure that asylum seekers would have their claims assessed safely and adequately.
Sunak said today: “This was not the outcome we wanted, but we have spent the last few months planning for every eventuality and remain completely committed to stopping boats coming in.”
He said the government will “now consider next steps.” Sunak may try to renegotiate a deal with Rwanda or another country, but those talks are expected to be painstaking and subject to further legal challenges.
The Supreme Court made clear that the European Convention on Human Rights is not the only convention challenging the policy, saying that other international treaties and UK law protect refugees and asylum seekers from being deported without guarantees about their safety.
But many on the right of the party have nevertheless planned to leave the ECHR if the court were to block the policy.
The verdict was closely watched in London and around the world and Britain’s plan was seen as a test of the viability of processing asylum outside the country.
The court’s decision was celebrated by humanitarian groups that had long opposed the plan; Care4Calais, which supports refugees in the UK and France, said the trial “must bring this shameful mark on UK history to an end.” Doctors Without Borders said the decision was an “encouraging result”. “The new Home Secretary now has the chance to abandon this pointlessly cruel approach and focus on providing safe routes for those seeking refuge in the UK. This is the only realistic and humane way to reduce the number of people risking their lives at sea,” the organization said.
A costly failure
Wednesday’s decision was categorical in crushing government policy on several fronts. Its impact will be felt for some time; The trial reignites a debate over illegal migration as a British general election approaches and sets the stage for a bitter round of Tory infighting.
Rwanda’s plan was revealed in response to an increasing number of dangerous crossings by asylum seekers across the English Channel. The number of crossings has increased rapidly in recent years, a trend Sunak has pledged to reverse.
Under the policy, some asylum seekers would be sent to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed. Successful cases would then be allowed to remain in Rwanda, while the others would be sent back to their home countries.
The court found that concerns about Rwanda’s asylum processing system and its human rights record were serious enough to rule the policy illegal.
The plan was unveiled by former interior minister Priti Patel and supported by her successor, Suella Braverman, who was fired from her role on Monday after a series of controversies.
But the idea was a public and costly failure for three prime ministers. The United Kingdom paid the Rwandan government £140 million for the proposal, the BBC reported.
No deportation flight ever took off; the first scheduled trip to Rwanda was halted at the last minute last year after an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights, and months of legal challenges then stalled the program.
In a scathing letter to Sunak yesterday (14) following his resignation, Suella Braverman said the Prime Minister’s “magical thinking – believing you can get through this without upsetting intellectual opinion – means you have failed to prepare any kind of ‘ Credible Plan B” on illegal migration.”
Braverman called Sunak “uncertain, weak and lacking the leadership qualities this country needs” and criticized him for being unwilling to leave the ECHR to advance the Rwanda plan – drawing clear battle lines with the Prime Minister before of what could become a civil war within the party.
Natalie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover, where the vast majority of small boat crossings to England end their journey, said today the decision means the policy is effectively over. “No planes will leave and now we need to move on”, according to the member of the British parliament.
But some party members may push to keep alive the goal of processing asylum applications, whether with Rwanda or another country.
The number of undocumented people entering Europe, and then heading to Britain, has risen this year due to conflict, global inequality and climate change, exacerbating a migration crisis across the continent.
Opposing illegal migration has become a key pillar of the Conservative Party’s pitch to voters, amid polls indicating the party has lost public support and is heading for an electoral defeat next year.
Its key figures, including Sunak and Braverman, have been accused of using inflammatory language against illegal immigrants as part of a push for votes.
“Ministers knew about the weaknesses in this scheme from the start and yet they insisted on making it their main policy,” Labor opposition Yvette Cooper said in a statement on Wednesday (15).
“This damning judgment on the Rwanda plan, where Sunak has already spent more than £140 million of taxpayers’ money, exposes Rishi Sunak’s failure to gain any control or have any serious plan to tackle dangerous boat crossings, which are undermining the border security and putting lives at risk,” Cooper said.
Source: CNN Brasil
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