TRANSCRIPT
Britain’s Supreme Court has ruled that the government’s contentious plan to send some migrants on a one-way trip to Rwanda is illegal, striking a major blow to a key policy of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government that has drawn international attention and criticism.
Lord Reed is President of the UK's Supreme Court.
He explains the Court's decision was based on the risk of refoulement, which is the forcible return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are liable to be subjected to persecution.
"As I have explained, the legal test which has to be applied in this case is whether there are substantial grounds for believing that asylum seekers sent to Rwanda would be at real risk of refoulement. In the light of the evidence which I have summarised, the Court of Appeal concluded that there were such grounds. We are unanimously of a view that they were entitled to reach that conclusion. Indeed, having been taken through the evidence ourselves, we agree with their conclusion."
Five justices on the country’s top court said asylum-seekers would be “at real risk of ill-treatment” because they could be sent back to their home countries once they were in Rwanda.
"We accept the Home Secretary's submission that the Rwandan government entered into the agreement in good faith and that the capacity of the Rwandan system to produce accurate and fair decisions can and will be built up. Nevertheless, asking ourselves whether there were substantial grounds for believing that the real risk of refoulement existed at the relevant time, we have concluded that there were. The changes needed to eliminate the risk of refoulement may be delivered in the future, but they have not been shown to be in place now. The Home Secretary's appeal is therefore dismissed."
Britain and Rwanda signed a deal in April 2022 to send some migrants who arrive in the U-K as stowaways or in boats, to the East African country, where their asylum claims would be processed.
If their asylum claims were found to be valid, they would be granted asylum in Rwanda, where in 1994 a genocide took place in which between 500,000 and 800,000 people were killed in 100 days in a conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi clans.
This is British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
He says he respects the Court's decision, but is not going to retire the plan.
"Today, the Supreme Court has judged that the Rwanda policy requires a set of changes in order to be lawful. I do not agree with this decision, but I respect it and accept it. The rule of law is fundamental to our democracy. We have prepared for all outcomes of this case. And so we have been working on a new international treaty with Rwanda. This will provide a guarantee in law that those who are relocated from the UK to Rwanda will be protected against removal from Rwanda, and it will make clear that we will bring back anyone if ordered to do so by a court."
The ruling is a crushing blow before an election expected next year which was a central plank of Mr Sunak's immigration policy.
Undeterred, he announced his government will put through emergency legislation to stop legal challenges to deportations to Rwanda once a new treaty is in place.
"We will take the extraordinary step of introducing emergency legislation. This will enable Parliament to confirm that with our new treaty, Rwanda is safe. It will ensure that people cannot further delay flights by bringing systemic challenges in our domestic courts and stop our policy being repeatedly blocked."
Britain's Home Secretary, James Cleverly says the Court's decision is based on outdated information.
He says the government will stay the course on driving down the number of boats crossing the English Channel.
"We are absolutely determined to maintain the deterrent effects of the Rwanda scheme. Just to an extent it is already demonstrating utility by the fact that we know anecdotally and I'm not going to over interpret these figures, that we know the fear of this as part of our arsenal is already having a deterrent effect, which is exactly what it was designed to do ... We remain relentlessly focused on making sure that we continue to drive down these small boat crossings using the full range of capabilities at our disposal."
Rwanda today has a low crime rate, with an overall crime index of 23.8 out of 100, according to Numbeo.
This makes it one of the safest countries in Africa and one of the most peaceful in the world.
In comparison, Australia has a crime index score of 49.37, and the U-K, 52.07.
