United Kingdom - April 2024

On 22 April, Parliament approved a controversial bill allowing the UK government to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda for their asylum claims to be heard, even after the Supreme Court ruled the scheme to be unlawful in November 2023. Migrants who have their claims rejected are not provided recourse to return to the UK. The law compels UK courts to consider Rwanda a safe country for the purposes of relocating migrants and prevents legal challenges from delaying a person’s removal to Rwanda on the grounds that the country may be unsafe. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who spearheaded the bill, says it is designed to deter irregular migration, discourage migrants from making dangerous crossings and prevent exploitation of migrants by criminal gangs. The law has been widely criticized, including by international NGO Amnesty International, who say the legislation weakens legal protections for vulnerable people, and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, who claims it infringes on judicial independence and the ability of courts to independently scrutinize the issues brought before them. The government has indicated the scheme will be operationalized within the next 10-12 weeks.

Sources: International IDEA, Amnesty International, UN News, BBC, UK Home Office (1), UK Home Office (2), Council of Europe, UK Parliament