Supreme Court rules Rwanda Plan unlawful

Syrian refugees. Image: COMECE

Campaigners are welcoming today's Supreme Court decision to uphold the Court of Appeal ruling that the Home Office's plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful.

Sarah Teather, Director of Jesuit Refugee Services UK, commented: "JRS UK has consistently opposed this cruel and unworkable policy. We now call for the government to abandon it.

Forcibly removing people to Rwanda would achieve nothing except to violate their basic rights, trash the UK's reputation on the international stage, and exacerbate fear and uncertainty among those seeking sanctuary here."

JRS UK has directly supported more than twenty people, including survivors of torture, facing removal to Rwanda. The threat of removal is felt far more widely. Through our accompaniment of refugees, we understand the human impact of this policy and the profound dangers it presents to people in search of safety."

Emphasising the continued challenges facing refugees in the UK Sarah Teather added: "While this policy has been ruled unlawful, the profound trauma it caused remains, alongside a raft of other hostile policies devastating the lives of refugee friends we accompany. We will continue to advocate for a fairer asylum system that recognises our responsibility to offer sanctuary and builds upon the welcome extended by so many people and communities throughout the UK.

We urge people to get involved and help us to advocate for a more compassionate system."

As a concrete way forward and reflecting the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England & Wales's principles set out in Love the Stranger; JRS is working to: "encourage the extension of safe routes such as resettlement programmes, visa schemes and humanitarian corridors, so that people can exercise their right to migrate in a dignified and humane manner" as well as urging the government to "fulfil its obligations under international frameworks protecting migrants and refugees, such as the Refugee Convention."

Aisha Dodwell, head of campaigns for CAFOD, said: "Today's ruling makes clear that we have a moral and legal duty to care for migrants and refugees. The Rwanda plan was a cruel attempt to turn away people who are seeking protection.

"We urgently need to transform the way migrants are treated. In the absence of safe and legal routes, thousands of people die each year as they are forced to take dangerous journeys to reach safety.

"As Pope Francis tells us, we must welcome people without prejudice and focus on building bridges and not walls."

Bishop Paul McAleenan, Lead Bishop for Migrants and Refugees for the Bishops' Conference, has welcomed the Supreme Court's ruling. He said: "I am greatly relieved that the proposal to send those seeking asylum to Rwanda has been ruled unlawful. This was a policy that ignored the innate human dignity of those seeking sanctuary.

"Whilst today's Supreme Court ruling is to be welcomed, we will continue to advocate for an immigration system that places the human person at its centre. Refugees are human beings made in the image and likeness of God, not a political problem to be solved.

"It is important to recognise the wonderful work of Catholic charities and civil society organisations that do so much to help migrants and refugees when they come to the UK.

"We will continue to pray for those who are on the move, as well as for the government that it will respect this ruling and respond to the needs of migrants and asylum seekers in a way that fully upholds their human dignity."

In April 2022, the government announced plans to forcibly and permanently send some people who seek asylum in the UK to Rwanda, under a new Migration and Economic Development Partnership between the UK and Rwandan governments.

As part of the plan, the Rwandan government would have had responsibility for people's asylum claims. It would process their claims and, crucially, if they were recognised as refugees, they would stay in Rwanda. The scheme was widely criticised as carrying a high risk of human rights abuses, abrogating the UK's responsibilities to refugees, and being both costly and ineffective.

On 29 June 2023 a majority of the Court of Appeal ruled that the Government's plan to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda was unlawful stating that Rwanda is not currently a safe third country. Instead, there are substantial grounds for thinking that protection-seekers sent there would not have their claims determined properly and would be returned by Rwanda to situations where they would face persecution and other forms of serious harm (refoulement).

JRS UK and other agencies have consistently highlighted how it is unsafe to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. Out-of-country processing has resulted in severe human rights abuses in the rare other contexts where it has been attempted.

Australia's offshore detention regime on Nauru and Manus Islands, in Papua New Guinea, has resulted in years of human suffering. Twelve people have died since the policy began in 2013. Men, women, and children have suffered inhumane treatment and medical neglect, and years of indefinite detention led to self-harm, widespread suicidal ideation, and suicide.

JRS said in June 2023: "We have no reason to expect this will turn out better. Rwanda itself has recently been criticised by human rights NGOs including for violating the rights of LGBT people. The Rwandan authorities regularly prosecute journalists, political opponents, and commentators based on their speech and opinions."

LINKS

Rwanda Scheme found to be UNLAWFUL! - www.jrsuk.net/news/rwanda-scheme-found-to-be-unlawful/ (June 2023)

JRS UK renews calls for end to plan to force refugees to Rwanda in wake of High Court's Judgement - www.jrsuk.net/news/jrs-uk-renews-calls-for-end-to-plan-to-force-refugees-to-rwanda-in-wake-of-high-courts-judgement/ (December 2022, news)

Irrespective of the High Court Judgment, sending asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing is deeply immoral - www.jrsuk.net/blog/irrespective-of-the-high-court-judgment-sending-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda-for-processing-is-deeply-immoral/ (December 2022, blog)