The United Kingdom (UK) has been working on a new migration treaty with Rwanda and will finalise it in light of its Supreme Court's decision to declare the 2022 Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) "unlawful."
The development regarding working on a new migration treaty with Rwanda was revealed by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday, November 15, moments after the court's ruling.
"My commitment to stopping the boats is unwavering. The Government has been working on a new treaty with Rwanda, and we'll finalise that in light of today's judgment. If necessary, I am prepared to revisit our domestic legal frameworks," he wrote on X.
The UK Supreme Court's decision was based on the claim that there are "substantial grounds for believing that asylum seekers would face a real risk of ill-treatment by reason of refoulement to their country of origin if they were removed to Rwanda."
Refoulement refers to the forcible return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are liable to be subjected to persecution. The judges noted that they accept that the Rwandan government entered into the MEDP in good faith, that it has incentives to ensure that it is adhered to and that monitoring arrangements provide a further safeguard.
"Nevertheless, the evidence shows that there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk that asylum claims will not be determined properly, and that asylum seekers will therefore be at risk of being returned directly or indirectly to their country of origin," part of the statement regarding the ruling read.
Signed in 2022 between Rwanda and the UK, the MEDP concerns all migrants and asylum seekers who arrived in the UK illegally from January 1, 2022, aiming at relocating them to Rwanda where they will be "empowered through different initiatives."
The UK-Rwanda partnership was referred to by Rwanda as "a bold new partnership" which takes an innovative approach to addressing the global migration crisis that involves incentive structures which empower criminal gangs and endanger innocent lives.
