By Chris Muhizi for MCN Thursday June 29th/2023.
The contentious government plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is illegal, according to a British court, because the African nation cannot be regarded as a secure third country.
Three Court of Appeal justices declared on Thursday that “removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda” would be “unlawful,” which is a huge blow for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has vowed to discourage migrants from entering across the Channel in small boats.
Judge Ian Burnett stated that “the deficiencies in the Rwandan asylum system are such that there are significant reasons for saying that there is a real risk that people who are sent to Rwanda will be returned to their home countries where they face persecution or other inhumane treatment,” but added that he disagreed with the other two judges on this issue.
As part of a 120 million pound ($148 million) agreement to discourage individuals from attempting to cross the English Channel from France in small boats, the British government has been preparing to deport asylum seekers to the East African nation.
Director of Asylum Aid Alison Pickup reported that many of her clients were exhaling sighs of relief.
Some of them have gone through horrible travel experiences and have been waiting for more than a year to learn whether they will be entitled to bring a claim in the UK or whether they will be deported to Rwanda, a place they have no knowledge of.
The decision will “hopefully give them that reassurance of safety,” she continued.
The government has said that it would challenge the judgment.
Although the Rwandan government acknowledged that the British courts should handle the case, it objected to the judges’ verdicts.
“Rwanda has been acknowledged by the United Nations as one of the safest nations in the world.” Said government spokesperson Makolo Yolande.
The Rwandan plan was unveiled in April of last year, but the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which issued an order barring any deportations pending the resolution of legal proceedings in Britain, stopped the first deportation flight.
Despite the High Court’s legality ruling in December, the proposal was denounced as “cruel,” “inhumane,” and “neo-colonial” by asylum seekers and human rights organizations from many nations.
Rwanda is a secure destination for the resettlement of asylum seekers, according to Home Secretary Suella Braverman in April, though she declined to specify a timetable for the first deportation.
(Source: Aljazeera).