“That Approval of the Rwanda Security (Asylum and Immigration) Bill. by British Parliament awaken serious doubts regarding the human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law more generally,” he said Michael O’Flaherty, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. “The UK government must refrain from deporting people under Rwandan policy and reverse this de facto breach of judicial independence,” he stressed.

«Managing asylum and migration is undoubtedly a challenge for countries, but this must always be done in accordance with international standards. In this regard, I am concerned that the Rwanda Bill allows for the implementation of a policy of deporting people to Rwanda without the UK authorities first assessing, in many cases, their asylum applications. Specifically, the bill prevents people facing deportation to Rwanda from appealing potential violations of the absolute ban on deportation. (non-refoulement). It also severely limits the power of English courts to consider cases before them fully and independently.

The bill was proposed by the British government alongside a new bilateral agreement with Rwanda that followed consideration The UK Supreme Court, in November 2023, stated that people deported to Rwanda were at real risk of being returned to their country of origin, in violation of the principle of non-refoulement. The UK is prohibited from repatriating people, even indirectly, under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and other international instruments. (Read more…)