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The Africa Confidential Blog
Why Britain’s failed asylum deal with Rwanda is everyone’s problem
Blue Lines
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to draft a new treaty on migration with Rwanda after the Supreme Court in London struck down a £140 million (US$174m) 'cash for asylum seekers' deal with President Paul Kagame's government. The ruling is a major blow for Sunak, who has made migration control one of his government's top priorities.
On 15 November, Lord Reed, the president of the Court, said the judges agreed unanimously with a Court of Appeal ruling in June that there was a strong risk of claims being wrongly determined in Rwanda, resulting in genuine asylum seekers being returned to their country of origin (refoulement). He said a similar accord between Israel and Rwanda had failed.
Under the 2022 agreement, asylum seekers would be flown to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be assessed. The first planned flights were blocked a year ago by the European Court of Human Rights, which imposed an injunction barring deportations until all legal action was concluded.
This latest setback for London could also hit the EU, whose institutions and member states have followed Britain's lead. The European Commission has spent recent months negotiating migrant control agreements with Tunisia and Egypt. These are designed to prevent boats carrying migrants from crossing the Mediterranean rather than processing claims outside the EU.