by Enrico Oliari –
The UK Supreme Court has ruled the government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda as illegal. The sentence, entirely predictable, thus pulverizes the plans of the various conservative prime ministers Johnson, Truss and Sunak to send migrants to the African country while waiting for their asylum request to be processed, and comes after the ECHR, the European Court of of Man, blocked the first plane leaving for Kigali.
After years of chatter and populism no migrant was brought to Rwanda also due to the many appeals presented, on the other hand the government of Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente made it known that it had already committed the 140 million euros allocated by London to government projects, i.e. be unable to return them.
The Sunak government has nevertheless made operational the Bibby Stockholm, a half-century-old floating barge chartered by a private company, to accommodate 500 asylum seekers in the English Channel.
With a statement, UNHCR said it welcomed “today’s ruling from the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom which established that the proposed transfer of asylum seekers from the United Kingdom to Rwanda under the Migration and Economic Development Partnership ( MEDP) would be contrary to international and British law.
We are not a party to the proceedings, but have advised the Court on issues of international refugee law and standards of protection. UNHCR’s role in the litigation was, throughout the case, that of a United Nations agency with the mandate to oversee the application of the 1951 Refugee Convention throughout the world.
UNHCR has consistently expressed its deep concern about the “outsourcing” of asylum obligations and the serious risks it poses for refugees. UNHCR recognizes the challenges posed by irregular arrivals across the Channel and calls for practical and workable alternatives to the MEDP Agreement, including through cooperation with European neighbors in the spirit of responsibility sharing that underpins the Refugee Convention. Fair and rapid asylum procedures, which respect international standards, and collaboration with international partners to ensure the safe and dignified repatriation of those who do not need protection are essential. UNHCR also encourages greater cooperation with countries on key routes along which refugees and migrants move, to address the root causes of displacement through peacebuilding, humanitarian and development aid, and to offer real alternatives to travel dangerous, also through the expansion of safe and legal routes”.
