Attorneys representing a group of asylum seekers told the Court of Appeal in London on Monday that Rwanda is dangerous and that Britain’s plan to send individuals to it is unlawful.
Last year, the government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak agreed to move thousands of migrants to Rwanda for a fee of 140 million pounds ($174 million).
Under pressure from Conservative MPs and the public, Sunak has announced one of his five priorities to discourage record numbers of asylum seekers arriving in small boats from France.
However, the first trip to Rwanda was canceled in June due to a last-minute decision by the European Court of Human Rights.
In December, the High Court in London ruled that the method was legitimate, but asylum seekers from Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, and other human rights groups are appealing.
Their lawyers argue that the government’s notion of a “safe third country” is false.
Their lawyer, Raza Husain, told the Court of Appeal at the start of a four-day hearing that Rwanda is an authoritarian one-party dictatorship that imprisons, tortures, and murders opponents.
“There will only be any form of deterrent effect if the third country to which asylum seekers are removed is one to which they would not wish to go,” Husain said, adding that the government had failed to strike a balance between deterring migrants and satisfying Britain’s human rights obligations.
However, British government lawyers emphasized that the agreement with Rwanda is “subject to an exacting set of monitoring arrangements,” including by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which intervened in the appeal.
They maintained in court filings that Rwanda’s asylum system had no bearing on the agreement with Britain’s refugee policy.
Rwanda said that the agreement will provide migrants with greater opportunities and respect.
Lord Chief Justice Ian Burnett, one of the three judges, said that Rwanda’s safety will be the first priority.
The administration suggested a new rule in March that would deport small boat arrivals to their home nations or safe third countries.
Sunak and his ministers believe this would weaken the business model of human traffickers, but others argue it is immoral, impractical, and counterproductive.
A record 45,000 migrants arrived in small boats on the English south coast in 2022. Last week, the government predicted that 56,000 people will cross the Channel this year.
Every day, the government houses over 100,000 asylum applicants, 50,000 of them are housed in hotels at a cost of 6.2 million pounds ($7.7 million).
