The Fate of Asylum Seekers: UK Supreme Court’s Ruling on Rwanda Policy approaches

The controversial asylum policy that sends migrants to Rwanda will be decided by the UK Supreme Court.

The government of Rishi Sunak is looking forward to the UK Supreme Court’s significant decision, which is scheduled to be made next Wednesday. The government’s primary immigration policy, which entails sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, will be up for legal challenge in court.

The legal dispute arose from a Court of Appeal decision that deemed the multimillion-pound deal to repatriate asylum seekers to the country of East Africa illegal. The impending ruling by the Supreme Court will have a big impact on how the government approaches immigration.

On the other hand, the Home Office expects deportation flights to Rwanda, Kigali, the country’s capital to begin as early as next year, should the court rule that the policy is legal.

The UK’s highest court will rule on the case this coming Wednesday, with a panel of five justices making the decision.

Officials representing the government have argued that the court of appeals erred in ruling that sending people to be deported to Rwanda would be against Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Torture and inhuman or degrading treatment are forbidden under Article 3. The government claims that a memorandum of understanding between Rwanda and the UK guarantees a “safe and effective” process for determining a person’s refugee status for every deportee.

A further party to the legal dispute is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which claims that the guarantees given are insufficient to address the “basic and fundamental defects” in the Rwandan asylum system.

Lords Reed, Hodge, Lloyd-Jones, Briggs, and Sales will render the judgment, which has important political and human rights ramifications. It is anticipated to be delivered after 10 a.m. on Wednesday of next week.

Tens of thousands of asylum seekers are sent to Rwanda for processing under the contentious policy, which was first unveiled by former prime minister Boris Johnson in April 2022. It was designed as a reaction to the growing number of refugees trying to enter the United Kingdom by tiny boat across the English Channel. Ministers in the government think the policy works as a disincentive.