Impartial human rights consultants* at present welcomed the choice by the newly elected UK Authorities to scrap the coverage to switch asylum seekers who meet sure circumstances to Rwanda for asylum processing.
“We’re inspired to be taught that the UK plans to reassume State accountability for receiving and assessing particular person asylum functions domestically,” the consultants stated.
“This is a vital step to make sure the precise to asylum and safety of the human rights of all migrants and refugees searching for safety within the UK, no matter how they arrive.”
The UK Authorities first introduced a brand new Migration and Financial Improvement Partnership with the Authorities of Rwanda (UK-Rwanda Asylum Partnership) in 2022. In November 2023, the UK Supreme Courtroom held that the UK-Rwanda Asylum Partnership was illegal on the idea that Rwanda couldn’t be thought-about to be a protected third nation owing to its previous follow of refoulement. In response to that ruling, the 2 Governments subsequently signed the UK-Rwanda Asylum Partnership Treaty on 5 December 2023, which was later ratified by the UK Parliament in April 2024. The UK Authorities additionally printed the Security of Rwanda Invoice in December 2023 to require all decision-makers within the UK to conclusively deal with Rwanda as a protected third nation, which the UK Parliament handed into legislation on 23 April 2024.
For the reason that UK-Rwanda coverage was introduced in 2022, UNHCR, OHCHR, and a number of other UN human rights mechanisms have repeatedly raised considerations that the controversial asylum association between the UK and Rwanda was not in accordance with the UK’s obligations beneath each worldwide human rights and refugee legislation.
“Two years after the preliminary announcement of the UK-Rwanda Asylum Partnership, it’s a aid that the UK Authorities has lastly made a brave determination to abort the controversial plan,” the consultants stated. “The plan would have externalised the UK’s asylum obligations and posed severe human rights dangers for migrants, asylum seekers and refugees and would have additionally undermined the worldwide safety system extra broadly.”
The consultants stated they look ahead to studying about new measures and reforms in migration and asylum governance within the UK.
“We reiterate our name to the UK Authorities to make sure that border governance measures, together with these aimed toward addressing unsafe and irregular arrivals of migrants, totally respect worldwide human rights and refugee legislation,” they stated.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Workplace of the UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).