Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The Boeing 767 that was supposed to bring the first migrants from Amesbury, England to Rwanda on June 14, 2022. One flight ended up being canceled at the last minute.
UNITED KINGDOM – This is a highly controversial project by the British government. This Wednesday, November 15, the Supreme Court confirmed the illegality of this measure, which consists in the deportation to Rwanda of asylum seekers, wherever they come from, who have arrived illegally on British soil.
The five senior judges therefore rejected Rishi Sunak’s government’s appeal, ruling that the Court of Appeal was correct to conclude that Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country. Kigali immediately “challenged” this decision.
This, which, as Supreme Court President Robert Reed pointed out, was based on legal rather than political grounds, immediately sounded the death knell for a flagship measure in the Prime Minister’s anti-illegal immigration policy. conservative minister.
He immediately announced that after this rejection he was preparing a “new contract” with Rwanda. The Conservative leader, speaking to MPs, also said he was prepared to “reconsider” the UK’s participation in international conventions in order to implement his project, while some elected representatives in his majority are calling for the UK to withdraw from the European Court of Justice Human rights.
In a telephone interview, Rishi Sunak and Rwandan President Paul Kagame “reaffirmed their strong commitment to the functioning of their immigration partnership and agreed to take the necessary steps to ensure that this policy is robust and legal,” Downing Street said in a statement .
A first decision at the end of June
“This was not the outcome we wanted, but we have spent the last few months planning for all eventualities and we remain committed to stopping the arrival of the boats on British soil,” the British Prime Minister had previously reacted.
“Illegal immigration destroys lives and costs the British taxpayer millions of pounds every year. We must put an end to this and will do whatever it takes to achieve this,” Rishi Sunak added.
The project to send migrants – regardless of their origin – to Rwanda, announced a year and a half ago, under Boris Johnson’s government, was never implemented.
In mid-2022, an inaugural flight was canceled at the last minute following a last-minute decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Then, on June 29, the British courts declared the government’s project “illegal,” prompting the government to appeal to the Supreme Court. In particular, the Court of Appeal had ruled that Rwanda in its current state could not be considered a “safe third country” because “there is a real risk that people posted to Rwanda will be sent back to their country of origin, where they will be subject to persecution and other inhumane treatment.” .
Any deportation to Rwanda would therefore constitute a “violation” of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which stipulates that “no person shall cause harm or torture to anyone,” the court ruled. “Unless the deficiencies in the asylum process are corrected, sending asylum seekers to Rwanda will be illegal,” the court said in a summary of the ruling.
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