UK Ministers Accused of Ignoring Rwanda Human Rights Record When Pushing For ‘Unlawful’ Migrant Deal

The UK’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing was touted as a way to reduce numbers crossing the English Channel. However, critics have questioned the African country’s human rights record, and the plan is at present being challenged in the high court.

UK ministers have been accused of deliberately ignoring evidence that Rwanda had violated human rights, including the right to live free from torture, when they pushed through their plan to send some asylum seekers to the east African country, The Guardian reported.

The government's Rwanda deportation plan, conceived to tackle the soaring numbers of migrants crossing the English Channel, is being challenged at the High Court.

In written submissions, the claimants said the-then Home Secretary, Priti Patel, and the government “including the Foreign Office and No 10 were themselves aware of, and appear to have had serious concerns, over Rwanda’s present and historic human rights record”.

Rwanda was not on a list of seven countries identified as potential partners in a “migration partnership” back in February 2021, because of human rights grounds worries, according to documents cited by Raza Husain QC. The lawyer is appearing on behalf of asylum seekers, along with the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) and the groups Care4Calais and Detention Action.

A cited internal note dated March 2021 showed Foreign Office officials telling the-then Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, that if Rwanda were selected “we would need to be prepared to constrain UK positions on Rwanda’s human rights record, and to absorb resulting criticism from [the] UK parliament and NGOs”.

Raza Husain QC said that the country was subsequently reassessed after the Foreign Office was informed that Boris Johnson, who was prime minister at the time, was “frustrated at the rate of progress”.

The Rwanda plan has been denounced as “unlawful under the Human Rights Act and the common law”.

“Asylum seekers removed to Rwanda face a significant risk of violation of their rights to be free from torture and inhuman treatment… Rwanda is a one-party authoritarian state that does not tolerate political opposition. It is a regime that repeatedly imprisons, tortures and murders those it thinks [are] its political opponents,” the claimants told the court on Monday.

“Those who protest or dissent from government directives, including refugees, are faced with police violence. All of those observations are drawn from our own government officials,” Husain added.

Furthermore, it was revealed that an upfront payment of £20Mln was made to the Rwandan government on 29 April 2022, besides the previously announced £120Mln in economic development funding, to allow preparations for the first removal flight.

The additional payment was made despite an official memo in April this year warning the “fraud risk is very high” and there was “limited evidence about whether these proposals will be a sufficient deterrent for those seeking to enter the UK illegally”.

Nevertheless, Patel gave her ministerial direction to proceed with the plan.

‘World-First Agreement’

As the number of refugees arriving by small boats across the Channel continues to hit record levels, newly elected Tory leader Liz Truss earlier pledged to keep the policy of her predecessor. The Home Office has vehemently defended the deportation plan, arguing that Rwanda is a “fundamentally safe and secure country, with a track record of supporting asylum seekers”.

Back in April, Patel signed a “world-first agreement” with Rwanda that would focus mainly on single men arriving in boats or lorries. These individuals would be given a one-way ticket to Rwanda for processing. More than 20,000 people have crossed the Channel since the terms of the five-year deal with Kigali were revealed.

According to the deal, the African country would offer accommodation and support to migrants while their claim was processed. In the event that the bid was successful, the migrants would be offered long-term accommodation in Rwanda.

However, after an outcry from critics, the first deportation flight, due to take off on 14 June, was grounded after a series of legal challenges.

The hearing that started on 5 September is expected to focus on claims that the Rwanda policy’s accelerated screening process does not enable proper identification of "vulnerabilities", as well as "risks" faced by asylum seekers designated for relocation. Furthermore, critics claim the assessment system for UK arrivals was tailored to ensure that most of their applications fail.

The hearing is expected to last for five days, with a second hearing in the claim brought by the group Asylum Aid scheduled for October.

In her last appearance in parliament as home secretary, Patel insisted the partnership was “very clear in terms of standards, the treatment of people that are relocated to Rwanda, the resources that are put in and also the processing of how every applicant is treated".