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London
CNN
—

The UK’s controversial policy to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda was ruled legal by the country’s High Court on Monday.

A group of NGOs, asylum seekers and a civil service union had questioned the legality of the scheme, which would see asylum seekers deemed to have entered the UK illegally sent to Rwanda to have their claims processed of asylum.

The court finds that the government is able to make these arrangements. But he also criticized Interior Minister Suella Braverman for failing to properly assess the circumstances surrounding the individual people who were to be relocated under the scheme.

Braverman ‘must decide whether there is something about each person’s particular situation which means their asylum claim should be considered in the UK or whether there are other reasons why they should not be transferred in Rwanda,” Lord Justice Lewis said in his ruling.

She “did not properly consider the circumstances of the eight individual plaintiffs whose cases we reviewed,” the judge continued. Those eight cases will be referred to the Department of the Interior for Braverman to reassess, he said.

The UK government’s partnership with the East African country has come under heavy criticism since it was announced by former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in April.

He was backed by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his successor Liz Truss and current leader Rishi Sunak, as well as most members of the ruling Conservative Party.

But he has a host of critics, including dozens of refugee rights groups, international agencies, UK lawmakers on both sides of the House of Commons, the Anglican church leader and some Rwandan politicians from the opposition.

The first flight to Rwanda was due to take off on June 14, but the European Court of Human Rights intervened at the last hour, and months of legal challenges stalled the program in the months that followed.

The UK has said it will pay Rwanda £120m ($145m) over the next five years to fund the scheme.

Braverman welcomed Monday’s verdict, saying in a statement that she is “committed to making this partnership work.”

“My goal remains to move the policy forward as soon as possible and we stand ready to defend ourselves against any further legal challenges,” she said.

But the decision was met with disappointment by campaigners, who have long argued the plan is unethical and ineffective.

We are very disappointed with the outcome of this case. If the government goes ahead with these harmful plans, it would damage the UK’s reputation as a country that values ​​human rights and undermine our commitment to ensuring the safety of those fleeing conflict and poverty. oppression, as enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention,” Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said in a statement.

“Treating people seeking safety as human cargo and shipping them to another country is a cruel policy that will cause great human suffering,” Solomon added. “The scheme is false in principle and unworkable in practice.”

The number of people making dangerous journeys across the English Channel in small craft has risen in recent years, with 2022 again posting record highs despite the government insisting that Rwandan policy would be a deterrent.

Whether the policy will now work effectively remains to be seen; the prospect of individual claims on behalf of migrants still threatens to sabotage Sunak’s plans to get the policy off the ground.

But the decision will be welcomed by the government, which has lost popularity and lost the confidence of most voters on a number of issues, according to opinion polls.

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