It is a severe snub for the government, which wanted by one of its key measures to discourage illegal immigration. British justice declared, Thursday, June 29, ” illegal “ the controversial plan to deport migrants who arrived illegally in the UK to Rwanda. This decision can still be appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Court of Appeal considered that Rwanda cannot be considered as a “safe third country” because “the shortcomings of the asylum system [y] are such” that there may be “a real risk that people sent to Rwanda will be sent back to their country of origin”.
The fight against illegal immigration is one of the priorities of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government. Despite Brexit promises of “take back control”, more than 45,000 migrants crossed the English Channel from France in small boats in 2022, more than any other year. And they are already more than 11,000 this year to have done the same.
Last December, the High Court in London gave its approval to the project to deport some of them to Rwanda, a project since stopped due to legal appeals, judging the legal device. The judges had however accepted that the appeal of several applicants and the association Asylum Aid, which provides legal support to asylum seekers, be examined.
For its part, the Rwandan government has announced that it will remain committed to the agreement with London providing for the expulsion of illegal migrants from Great Britain to Rwanda, despite this decision. “While this decision is ultimately up to the British courts, we dispute the fact that Rwanda is not considered a safe country for refugees and asylum seekers”added Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo.
First flight canceled
Among the points submitted to the Court of Appeal, the question of whether the project is “systemically unfair” and whether asylum seekers should be prevented from being deported to a country where they risk being persecuted.
At the hearing in April, the plaintiffs’ lawyers squashed the “excessive deference” of the first judges towards the assurances given on the protection of migrants against torture or inhuman treatment. Lawyers from the Ministry of the Interior had retorted by invoking Rwanda’s desire to “cooperate with international monitoring mechanisms” and London’s confidence in the assurances provided by Kigali.
The plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was announced when Boris Johnson was prime minister. The government had concluded the agreement with Kigali providing for the expulsion of migrants in the hope of discouraging these crossings. However, no deportation has yet taken place, a first flight scheduled for June 2022 had been canceled after a decision by the European Court of Human Rights, which called for a thorough review of this policy.
The government recently acknowledged that these evictions would cost nearly 200,000 euros per person. However, the ministry estimates that over four years it could save £106,000 (€123,290) for each asylum seeker, on accommodation costs among other things. For the project to be profitable, two out of five migrants would have to be deterred from crossing the Channel, according to these data.
