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Justices say plan to send migrants to Rwanda at odds with international law

The United Kingdom government's plan to deport people who arrive in the country illegally to Rwanda has been deemed illegal by the country's highest court.

The unanimous Supreme Court ruling brings an end to a policy first announced by then-prime minister Boris Johnson in April 2022, and backed by his successors, which has never come into action.

Supreme Court president Lord Reed said there were substantial grounds to believe genuine refugees sent to Rwanda may be at risk of being returned to countries from which they had fled.

Under the United Nations' refugee convention, asylum seekers must be protected from this, a process known as refoulement, and the judges decided no such guarantees could be made for Rwanda, after evidence was presented that it had failed to do this as part of a similar deal it had signed with Israel.

Reed claimed there were "serious and systematic defects in Rwanda's procedures and institutions for processing asylum claims", leading to "concerns about the asylum process itself, such as the lack of legal representation (and) the risk that judges and lawyers will not act independently of the government in politically sensitive cases", and also highlighted a "surprisingly high rate of rejection of asylum claims from certain countries in known conflict zones".

In June 2022, a deportation flight to Rwanda was halted at the last minute by an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights, since when a lengthy legal battle has taken place, during which time no deportations have taken place.

Shortly after that aborted flight, a Rwandan government representative confirmed the country had received 120 million pounds ($149.5 million) from the UK government to pay for the program, which is now not going ahead.

In addition to the ethical debate, there was further anger at the cost when in June this year, the Politico website quoted Home Office figures showing that the estimated cost of each individual deportation would be 169,000 pounds, as opposed to around 63,000 pounds to keep an individual in the UK.The government said the threat of deportation would be a deterrent in the first place.

The program was particularly associated with former home secretary Suella Braverman, who was appointed and then promptly removed from her post a year ago by former prime minister Liz Truss, only to be reappointed by Truss's successor Rishi Sunak, who fired her earlier this week.

Shortly before she was appointed by Truss, Braverman told the 2022 Conservative Party conference: "I would love to have a front page of the Daily Telegraph (newspaper) with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that's my dream, it's my obsession… (starting by Christmas) would be amazing."

Following her sacking this week, Braverman published a letter fiercely critical of Sunak, particularly his attitude toward the issue of migrant boats crossing the English Channel, and mentioning the betrayal of your promise to the nation that you would do "whatever it takes" to stop the boats.

A statement issued by Sunak said: "This (ruling) was not the outcome we wanted, but we have spent the last few months planning for all eventualities and we remain completely committed to stopping the boats."

It also noted that "the Supreme Court … has confirmed that the principle of sending illegal migrants to a safe third country for processing is lawful", suggesting an alternative location may be sought.