High Court rules Government plans to deport people seeking asylum to Rwanda lawful

The deal undermines international refugee law

‘… the Government’s Rwanda deal seriously undermines international refugee law and rides roughshod over the rights of people seeking asylum in the UK’ - Steve Valdez-Symonds

In response to today’s High Court ruling that the Government’s highly controversial Rwanda refugee forced relocation policy is lawful but consideration must be given to the individual circumstances of each person affected by the scheme, Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, said:

“This bitterly disappointing decision draws attention to the limitations of domestic law when it comes to the UK meeting its obligations under international law.

“We remain gravely concerned that the Government’s Rwanda deal seriously undermines international refugee law and rides roughshod over the rights of people seeking asylum in the UK.

“Transporting people thousands of miles away to Rwanda - a country with its own asylum and human rights challenges - is expensive, unjust and deeply cruel.

“Despite this ruling, the Rwanda scheme should be abandoned in its entirety - it’s a cynical distraction from the pressing need to radically reform the chronically failing asylum procedures, which are slow, increasingly chaotic and leave thousands of people stranded in limbo for years.

“Instead of the disastrously misguided Rwanda scheme, Suella Braverman should stop playing politics with people’s lives and get down to the serious task of fixing the UK’s massively dysfunctional asylum system and patently unjust policies."