No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 September 2024
There have many developments since the publication in International Legal Materials of the initial United Kingdom–Rwanda Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2022, not the least being the unanimous judgment of the UK Supreme Court published below. In addition, the present government has secured the passage of several new laws, including the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024, intended to both buttress its policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing of their claims and meet the objections of the Court. It has also “translated” the MoU into a binding treaty, since ratified by both parties, and Rwanda has enacted new asylum laws, as it had agreed.
1 See Home Office, Statement concerning the Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Republic of Rwanda for the provision of an asylum partnership to strengthen shared international commitments on the protection of refugees and migrants (Apr. 25, 2024), https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6631f2f6f3e54f33b3bb08b8/FINAL_Statutory_Statement_under_Constitutional_Reform_and_Governance_Act.pdf; Home Office, UK-Rwanda Treaty completes ratification process (Apr. 25, 2024), https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-rwanda-treaty-completes-ratification-process; For text of the treaty, see https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/656f51d30f12ef07a53e0295/UK-Rwanda_MEDP_-_English_-_Formatted__5_Dec_23__-_UK_VERSION.pdf. Rwanda ratified the treaty on April 18, 2024; see Law N° 040/2024 of 18/04/2024, Republic of Rwanda, Year 63, Official Gazette n° Special of 19/04/2024: https://www.minijust.gov.rw/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=96770&token=f64bf7dcb1ba7f2a7beb50d022c6c9d848ef99a6.
2 On April 19, 2024, Rwanda adopted three laws relating to refugees and refugee claims; see Republic of Rwanda, Year 63, Official Gazette n° Special Bis of 19/04/2024: https://www.minijust.gov.rw/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=96771&token=e8402d8c7aa9ed9bf75cb7c0cd8bfb643a8aa70e.
3 The leader of the Labour Party said that his government would stop removals, but did not commit to taking back anyone removed in the meantime; see Rajeev Syal, First UK deportation flight to Rwanda could take off in June, court papers suggest, The Guardian, May 10, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/10/first-uk-deportation-flight-to-rwanda-could-take-off-in-june-court-papers-suggest; Elena Courea, Labour government would stop Rwanda deportation flights, Starmer says, The Guardian, May 10, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/10/labour-government-would-stop-rwanda-deportation-flights-starmer-says.
4 UNHCR first became aware of the UK-Rwanda Arrangement when it was announced on April 14, 2022: Home Office, Country Information Note, Rwanda: Annex 2 (UNHCR evidence) (Dec. 2023), 213: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65a15c7b74ae660014738a48/CIN_RWA_UNHCR_evidence.pdf.
5 As developed in jurisprudence and practice, non-refoulement also prohibits indirect return. The Court relied on inclusion of the principle in the 1989 Convention against Torture, and in the jurisprudence developed under Article 7 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 3 of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (particularly following the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Soering v United Kingdom (1989) 11 EHRR 439).
6 R (on the application of AAA and others) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3230 (Admin); [2023] EWCA Civ 745.
7 A further point on which leave to appeal was allowed concerned the argument that the policy violated “retained EU law,” requiring a “connection” between the asylum seeker and the country to which they were to be removed. The Supreme Court dismissed this argument, on the ground that the legislation revoking the relevant provisions of EU law was clear and unambiguous (§§107–148).
8 The Court relied on Al-Sirri v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] UKSC 54 and IA (Iran) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] UKSC 6.
9 Quoting R (EM (Eritrea)) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] UKSC 12, ¶ 72.
10 UNHCR, UNHCR Analysis of the Legality and Appropriateness of the Transfer of Asylum-Seekers under the UK-Rwanda arrangement: an update (Jan. 2024), https://www.refworld.org/legal/natlegcomments/unhcr/2024/en/147086.
11 Supra, note 1.
12 Enver Solomon, The Lords have pulled apart the cruel and Orwellian Rwanda bill – yet still, the Tories press on, The Guardian, Mar. 7, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/07/house-of-lords-cruel-orwellian-rwanda-bill-tories-refugees. Enver Solomon is the chief executive of the United Kingdom Refugee Council. See also, Refugee Council, Briefing Paper, Cost, chaos and human misery – the impact of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and the Rwanda Plan (Apr. 2024), https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Cost-chaos-and-human-misery-the-impact-of-the-IMA-2023-and-the-Rwanda-Plan-April-2024.pdf.