Priti Patel is already facing a lawsuit against his plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda in what is likely to be the first of many challenges to the controversial policy.
Lawyers representing an asylum seeker who qualifies for deportation have applied for a judicial review, arguing that sending him to the East African country would violate his human rights.
They claim that the deal that the British government has made with Rwanda, in which people who arrived in the United Kingdom to seek asylum will be sent 4,000 miles to consider their requests from the Rwandan authorities, violates the law on many ways.
Lawyers say it violates both the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – by denying deportees proper access to justice and is discriminatory – and the Geneva Convention, which provides that asylum seekers do not they must be punished for their arrival.
Lawyers also argue that the policy violates the law on the grounds that Rwanda cannot be considered a “safe country”, as the UK government claims.
Twinwood Law Practice’s lawyer, Harjot Singh, told The Independent: “We strongly believe that [policy] is illegal. I have all my faith in the judiciary. I will leave it to the judges. “
Zoe Buntleman, legal director and the Association of Immigration Law Practitioners, said there are likely to be additional legal challenges.
“The government is not above the law, which lawyers are professionally and ethically committed to abide by, regardless of their policies,” she said.
“Further litigation to challenge any breach by the United Kingdom of its obligations under the law is likely and will be necessary to maintain the rule of law.
She added: “We are deeply concerned that if this policy is considered illegal by our courts, the government will see our legal and constitutional framework as an obstacle to its agenda and change the law to weaken the protection of rights.
The multi-million pound deal, announced last week, is aimed at deporting asylum seekers who are considered “inadmissible” – meaning they have traveled through a safe country to reach Britain and will therefore not be deported to the UK . Rwanda to have their claims processed there.
The UK’s inadmissibility rules, introduced in January 2021, provide that persons deemed inadmissible may be relocated to the safe country through which they traveled if that country agrees to return – or otherwise way in “any safe third country that will take them”.
Given that the United Kingdom has failed to conclude any bilateral return agreements with EU countries to send asylum seekers back to the continent, ministers hope that the new migration agreement will mean that they can instead move them to Rwanda.
The agreement requires Rwanda to process claims in accordance with the UN Refugee Convention, ensuring protection from inhuman and degrading treatment.
However, lawyers say “there is no mechanism to ensure that this is done”, adding that Rwanda has a “poor human rights record” and that asylum seekers in the country are not being treated in accordance with an acceptable level of treatment. of international law ”.
They cite a 2019 Amnesty International report describing an incident in February 2018 that killed at least 11 Congolese refugees when police opened fire on protesters in Karongi and the Kiziba refugee camp, both in Western Rwanda.
The report states that a year later, instead of investigating the unnecessary and / or excessive use of force by police, Rwandan authorities arrested and prosecuted refugees for participating in the protests.
Lawyers also cite the latest U.S. government trafficking report for 2021, which accuses Rwandan authorities of detaining thousands of potential victims in county transit centers, “without conducting adequate screening or directing identified victims to appropriate care.” and help. “
The report added that the Rwandan government had investigated fewer trafficking cases and prosecuted and convicted fewer traffickers than the previous year, and that “there is no victim and witness support program.”
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said: “Rwanda is a safe and secure country with experience in supporting more than 130,000 refugees, including through the UN Refugee Agency, who themselves said the country has a safe and secure environment for refugees.
“This agreement is in line with domestic and international legal obligations and we will strongly defend any legal dispute.
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