The British justice system declared this Thursday “illegal” to send to Rwanda, an African nation 6,500 km from London, asylum seekers who arrived irregularly in the United Kingdom, hitting a blow to this controversial government project, which has already announced that it will appeal to the Supreme Court.
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Three judges from the London Court of Appeal overturned a previous ruling on the grounds that Rwanda cannot be considered “a safe country”, in a majority decision.
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According to two of the judges, shortcomings in the Rwandan asylum system pose a “real risk” that refugees will be returned to their country of origin and face persecution or inhumane treatment.
“Unless and until the deficiencies in its asylum procedures are corrected, the expulsion of asylum seekers to Rwanda will be illegal,” said the president of the room.
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Unless and until the deficiencies in its asylum procedures are corrected, the removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda will be illegal.
The magistrates specified “that their decision does not imply any opinion on the political or other merits of this policy,” considering that “this is a matter that is the exclusive responsibility of the government.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – the grandson of Indian immigrants – announced shortly afterward that will request “permission to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court” considering that “the Rwandan government provided the necessary guarantees”.
Rwanda also said it “disagrees” with the ruling and assured that despite it “it remains fully committed” to the agreement reached with London.
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But the NGO Human Rights Watch took advantage of the decision to once again ask the interior minister, the conservative Suella Braverman, to “abandon this unworkable and unethical fever dream”.
Repression
The controversial plan, announced in 2022 by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was initially blocked by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) forcing the first plane to be aborted in June last year.
Since then has been involved in legal proceedings in the UK, so no one has been deported so far.
The High Court of London declared it legal in December, but the Court of Appeal admitted this appeal presented by ten asylum seekers -from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Sudan and Albania- and the refugee aid NGO Asylum Aid.
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Human rights defenders accuse Rwanda – a country ruled with an iron fist since 2000 by President Paul Kagame after the end of the genocide in which some 800,000 people died – of repressing freedom of expression and opposition.
Lawyers for the British Home Office argued that the government trusts the guarantees given by Rwanda, which showed its willingness to “cooperate with international control mechanisms”.
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Talk out
Like his predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, Sunak makes it a priority to reduce immigration to the UK, one of the great promises of Brexit.
your government wants to make asylum applications illegal for those who arrive irregularly in the country and send those people to “safe” third countries, such as Rwanda.
With this program, the British executive seeks to dissuade migrants from crossing irregularly in small boats from the coasts of France, one of the most dangerous routes in the world due to its large cargo traffic, whose numbers have skyrocketed in recent years.
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More than 45,000 migrants arrived irregularly on English shores in 2022, an increase of 60% compared to 2021. More than 11,000 people have already done so since the beginning of 2023.
The bill is currently being debated in Parliament and to convince legislators the government published on Tuesday an assessment of its financial impact.
It noted that the initial cost of moving a person to a third country would be around £169,000 ($210,000) but would save between £106,000 and £165,000 over four years for each refugee who does not reach British soil or is expelled.
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The report admits, however, that these are “highly uncertain” figures and that the plan should deter 37% of current irregulars to be profitable.
AFP
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