UK judge allows government to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda

• Plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda under UK-Rwandan agreement set to begin next week.
• Refugee rights groups and union representing UK Border Force staff challenged the plan in London’s High Court.
• Home Office lawyers urge the judge to consider the consequences of halting UK-Rwandan one-way flights.

An emergency bid to stop deportation flights of asylum seekers to Rwanda, which are expected to begin next week under an agreement with the east African country, was dismissed by a British judge on Friday.

After agreeing to the plan with Kigali in order to prevent unlawful migrants from crossing the Channel by boat, the UK government plans to transport the first planeload of applicants to Rwanda on June 14.

In London’s High Court, refugee rights organisations and a trade union representing UK Border Force employees challenged the proposal, seeking an injunction blocking Tuesday’s maiden flight and any further flights.

They contend that the scheme infringes on asylum seekers’ human rights, and that the government can’t back up its claim that Rwanda is a safe haven.

However, judge Jonathan Swift declared it was in the “public interest” for Interior Minister Priti Patel “to be able to enforce immigration control judgments” after a one-day hearing.

Swift, on the other hand, allowed his decision to be appealed, indicating that the matter will be heard by Court of Appeal justices on Monday and setting a date for a comprehensive two-day High Court hearing next month.

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‘Ashamed’

Patel praised the measure, stating that the government “will not be deterred” in its efforts to end the deadly people-smuggling enterprise and save lives.

“Rwanda is a safe country that has been recognised in the past for offering a safe sanctuary for refugees,” she continued.

However, rights groups fighting the idea claimed they were “disappointed,” and one religious leader said it made her “very ashamed to be British.”

“It feels terrible,” Dover Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin said of the anticipated deportations on Times Radio.

The Refugee Council’s chief executive, Enver Soloman, said it was “very concerning” that the government “remains determined to move on despite these judicial challenges and public disquiet.”

He encouraged ministers to “reflect on the early failings of this plan, and rethink,” noting that the number of people crossing the Channel has increased since the programme was announced earlier this year.

After attorneys representing the claimants said Patel’s interior ministry claimed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) authorised the proposal, the UN refugee agency accused the British government of lying about it.

Laura Dubinsky, the UN agency’s lawyer, stated that it “in no way endorses the UK-Rwandan accord.”

“Despite the secretary of state’s representations to the contrary, the UNHCR is not participating in the UK-Rwanda arrangement,” she told the court.

If moved to Rwanda, the would-be refugees would face “severe, irreparable injury,” according to Dubinsky, who added that the UN has “serious worries about Rwandan capabilities.”

A lack of legal recourse in Rwanda, as well as potential prejudice against gay applicants, are among the UNHCR’s worries.

“These are issues that have been raised to UK authorities, but the secretary of state’s view… is that the UNHCR has given this plan its blessing,” claimants’ lawyer Raza Husain said.

“You’re making a bogus assertion.”

‘Excellent strategy’

The ministry’s lawyers later addressed the court, which heard that 31 individuals were slated to board Tuesday’s aircraft.

“The Home Office intends to make arrangements for a further flight or flights to Rwanda this year,” said Mathew Gullick, the department’s lawyer.

He urged the judge to think about the consequences of halting the flights, adding that “even a six-week hiatus creates a period of time in which individuals may rush to cross (the Channel).”

“Hundreds of individuals might conceivably cross in a single day,” he continued.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokeswoman assured reporters that the government remained committed to the initiative.

He said the proposal remained “the proper approach, not least to combat criminal gangs that exploit migrants on the French coast and frequently push them into unseaworthy vessels to attempt what is an enormously perilous journey to the UK.”

This year, more over 10,000 migrants have crossed the border, a significant rise over previous years. The one-way flights are meant to prevent others from entering the UK through unlawful means, and to offer those who do a chance to start a new life in Rwanda.

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