London – The UK’s highest court on Wednesday rejected Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s immigration policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
It is a five-year trial policy that would have been a one-way ticket and is now unlawful.
Sunak has already given Rwanda £20 million for preparations and £120 million for economic development.
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Unanimously, five judges at the Supreme Court found that there was essentially a risk that those who do get deported might face being wrongly assessed or could be returned to the country they originally came from and face persecution.
In his opening remarks, Lord Reed said: “There is a legal rule that refugees must not be returned to their country of origin if their lives would be threatened in that country.”
The court further pointed to the fact that the UK is party to several conventions, one of which is the Refugee Convention, which illustrates that the Rwandan policy was unlawful and the human rights abuses in Rwanda.
That being said, the UK could only send people to a country that follows the non-refoulment rule.
The United Nations welcomed this decision.
The ruling comes after Sunak sacked Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who has backed the Rwanda plan since day one.
Earlier Wednesday, Braverman’s letter criticised Sunak over the way he handled the case and called for the UK to leave the ECHR.
The verdict has triggered some reactions from the conservative party.
This afternoon, Sunak said in a press conference that he does not agree with the Supreme Court but that he “respects it and accepts it.”
However, the government said it will be introducing “emergency legislation” to Parliament, which aims to enable Parliament to confirm that Rwanda was safe.
Sunak was confident that when Parliament determined Rwanda was safe, no foreign country would stop this plan from going ahead.
“Whatever my critics may say, we are making progress,” said Sunak.
