Rwanda asylum plan

A last-minute interim measure by the European Court of Human Rights led to the plan being halted until the conclusion of the legal action in the UK.

At the end of 2022, the High Court further ruled that though the plan was lawful, the individual cases of eight asylum seekers due to be deported that year had to be reconsidered.

[8][9] It was signed for a duration of five years by British home secretary Priti Patel and Rwandan foreign minister Vincent Biruta on 13 April 2022.

[10] Its stated aims were to decrease the number of migrant crossings in the English channel, stop human smuggling, and boost Rwandan investment and development.

[13] The agreement with the Rwandan government did not specify how many migrants would have been accepted under the scheme and it was reported that a facility was already available that could hold 200 immigrants, and that there was the ability to “scale up very quickly” as necessary.

[20][19] On 14 May 2022, Johnson said in an interview with the Daily Mail that fifty migrants had been told that they would be transported to Rwanda over the next two weeks, and that his government was ready for legal opposition to the plan's enforcement.

On the evening of 14 June it was confirmed the flight would no longer depart on that date following an interim measure from the European Court of Human Rights.

[25][26] In April 2024, after the Safety of Rwanda Act removed legal impediments to the scheme, the Home Office launched raids to detain asylum seekers across the UK in preparation for their deportation.

Two campaign groups – Detention Action and Care4Calais – joined the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and four asylum seekers to challenge the plan in the High Court of Justice and request a last-minute injunction to stop the first flight from taking off on 14 June 2022.

[32] At 19:30 on the day of the planned flight, the European Court of Human Rights issued an interim measure which stated that one of its seven passengers, an Iraqi man, would face "a real risk of irreversible harm" if he was transported to Rwanda.

[37] During the hearing, the government argued that Rwanda could be trusted to treat refugees humanely, while the lawyers representing the migrants described the country as an "authoritarian one-party state"[38] with a "woefully deficient" asylum system.

[44] Following Labour's victory in the election, Starmer confirmed that he would scrap the Rwanda scheme, saying it was "dead and buried before it started", and would be replaced by the Border Security Command.

[51] Demonstrations were held outside the Home Office the day the policy was announced and charities warned of Rwanda's human rights violations.

[53] Privilege Style later announced that it would not be making the requested deportation flights due to a campaign by pressure group Freedom from Torture.

[57] Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said during an Easter Sunday sermon that the scheme raised "serious ethical questions" and did not stand "the judgement of God".

[71] On 4 December 2023 he signed a treaty with British home secretary James Cleverly in an attempt to address the concerns of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

[72] The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is "firmly opposed" to the policy,[73] believing it to be unlawful, prejudiced and impractical.

Its assistant high commissioner Gillian Triggs said the United Kingdom was "attempting to shift its burden to a developing country" and that the policy "would not comply with the UK's international legal responsibilities".

[81] Rwanda subsequently denied ever signing a formal agreement with Israel, and the deal was widely criticized as a violation of international law and human rights.

[82] Denmark has what has been described as a zero-refugees policy, under which it had passed legislation in 2021 for refugees to be sent outside the European Union to be processed;[83][84] Kagame himself had spoken of talks with the Danish government for Rwanda to participate as early as April 2022.

[86] The plan was met with polarised reactions, facing condemnation both domestically and internationally, while also receiving support from parties across the political spectrum.

[87] Ministers from EU memberstates Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic requested in early 2024 the European Commission should find a solution for sea rescued migrants to be brought to a safe place in a partnering country outside the European Union.

[84] A report released by the UK National Archives in 2023 revealed that Jonathan Powell had proposed a similar plan to Tony Blair in 2003.

The proposed scheme would have involved sending asylum seekers to holding camps on the Isle of Mull before removing them to safe havens in third-party countries such as Kenya and South Africa.

[94] It was also suggested that the government could renounce the European Convention on Human Rights in order to avoid legal challenges and demonstrate a strong stance against illegal immigration.