Britain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously dominated {that a} authorities plan to ship asylum seekers to the east African nation of Rwanda couldn’t be carried out.
The choice was the most recent blow to Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who embraced the plan as a get-tough approach to cope with the crush of refugees arriving on Britain’s shores as he heads into an election subsequent yr.
The Rwanda plan, first proposed underneath former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has been contested from the beginning.
Mr. Sunak mentioned it could function a deterrent for the surging variety of asylum seekers making the customarily harmful passage throughout the English Channel hoping to remain within the U.Okay.
But the British excessive court docket upheld a decrease court docket ruling that the chance was too nice for candidates pressured to return to their nation of origin.
Refugee activist teams criticized the scheme, which concerned the Rwandan authorities reportedly receiving greater than $175 million from Britain to cowl the bills of taking within the would-be asylum seekers.
Mr. Sunak mentioned after the ruling the federal government was contemplating its subsequent steps, together with presumably tweaking the dealing with of refugees despatched to Rwanda to deal with the court docket’s considerations.
“This 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,” he mentioned in an announcement. “Crucially, the Supreme Court … has confirmed that the principle of sending illegal migrants to a safe third country for processing is lawful.”
Refugee advocates hailed the choice.
“The plan goes against who we are as a country that stands up for those less fortunate than us and for the values of compassion, fairness and humanity,” mentioned Enver Solomon, chief govt of the British-based Refugee Council. “The government should be focusing on creating a functioning asylum system that allows people who seek safety in the U.K. a fair hearing on our soil and provides safe routes so they don’t have to take dangerous journeys.”
U.Okay. officers mentioned this summer time that greater than 100,000 migrants have crossed on small boats from France to southeast England since 2018. In essentially the most infamous of a number of lethal incidents, 27 would-be asylum seekers drowned in November 2021 after their boat capsized in tough waters within the English Channel.
Hard-liners in Mr. Sunak’s Conservative Party, together with just-dismissed former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, have harshly criticized the prime minister’s dealing with of the difficulty, saying the federal government ready no backup plan within the occasion the courts would rule as they did.
