We’ll appeal, says Sunak as court rejects plan to move asylum seekers to Rwanda

Rishi Sunak, UK prime minister, says his office will seek permission to appeal a court ruling preventing the government from sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.

On April 14, 2022, TheCable reported that the UK government intends to begin sending asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing.

The UK had said the action became necessary to stop illegal migration and to prevent “vile people smugglers” from turning the ocean into a “watery graveyard”.

To stop the deportation agreement, several asylum seekers, aid groups, and a border official’s union, filed lawsuits.

In December 2022, a British high court ruled that the government’s plan was legal.

The decision was contended at the court of appeal.

‘RWANDA NOT A SAFE THIRD-WORLD COUNTRY’

Delivering judgment on Thursday, the UK court of appeal ruled that the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is illegal.

Two out of a three-member panel of justices held that Rwanda cannot be considered a “safe third-world country” and that asylum seekers were at risk of facing persecution or other inhumane treatment.

The judges held that there were “substantial grounds” to believe that refugees would have their application for asylum incorrectly refused, which would put them at risk of refoulement.

Refoulement is the forced removal of refugees to countries where they will be at risk.

Nicholas Underhill, one of the judges, held that refugees will not be given fair hearing in Rwanda because the country’s judiciary is not independent.

Concurring with Underhill, Geoffrey Vos, the judge, held that facts and history have shown that the African country does not have “control mechanisms and systems in place” to deliver on the MEDP agreement with the UK.

Reacting to the judgment in a statement, Sunak said the decision would be challenged at the supreme court.

“While I respect the court, I fundamentally disagree with their conclusions,” Sunak said. 

“I strongly believe the Rwandan government has provided the assurances necessary to ensure there is no real risk that asylum seekers relocated under the Rwanda policy would be wrongly returned to third countries, something that the lord chief justice agrees with.

“The policy of this government is very simple, it is this country and your government who should decide who comes here, not criminal gangs.

“And I will do whatever is necessary to make that happen.”