UK signs new Rwanda pact to resurrect asylum plan

KIGALI/LONDON, December 5

Britain signed a new treaty with Rwanda on Tuesday, which it said would overcome a court decision blocking its plan to deport asylum seekers to the East African country, a ruling that dealt a huge blow to the government’s immigration policy.

The Rwanda scheme is at the centre of the government’s strategy to stop illegal migration and is being watched closely by other countries considering similar policies.

But last month, the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court ruled that the plan would violate international human rights laws enshrined in domestic legislation.

Under the new treaty, signed by British Home Secretary (interior minister) James Cleverly and which replaces a non-binding memorandum of understanding, Britain said Rwanda would not expel asylum-seekers to a country where their life or freedom would be threatened — one of the court’s major concerns. There will also be a monitoring committee to enable individuals to lodge confidential complaints directly to them, and a new appeal body made up of judges from around the world. Cleverly said he expected migrants to be heading to Rwanda in the coming months because the treaty addressed all the issues raised by the Supreme Court

“I really hope that we can now move quickly,” Cleverly told reporters in Rwanda’s capital Kigali. — Reuters