Boost for Rwanda plan as ECHR makes it harder to block deportations

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has toughened the requirements for migrants seeking to block deportation flights to Rwanda.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the ECHR set out a newly codified version of Rule 39 orders, which were used by Strasbourg judges to block the first deportation flight to Rwanda in June 2022.

The new version makes explicit reference to judges only being able to issue the injunctions where there would be an “imminent risk of irreparable harm” if a migrant was deported to Rwanda.

This mirrors the Government’s own conditions for exempting a migrant from deportation in its new legislation, which aims to limit legal challenges to the deportation flights.

Flights to Rwanda have been grounded since a European court judge issued its Rule 39 order at the 11th hour, sparking a legal process that culminated in a Supreme Court ruling last year that Rwanda was unsafe.

New Bill

The Government’s new Rwanda Bill and treaty aims to answer the court’s criticisms by barring the return of anyone sent to Rwanda to their home country where they could face persecution, so-called refoulement, which was the main concern of the Supreme Court.

The legislation also bars any systemic challenge to the safety of Rwanda, but allows individual claims against deportation, though these will only be upheld if the migrants can show they would be at “real risk of serious and irreversible harm.”

It also gives ministers the right to ignore Rule 39 injunctions, although internal documents suggest that the Government’s legal advice is that they are binding.

The Bill is in limbo after the House of Lords defeated the Government on seven amendments on Monday, forcing it back to the Commons on April 15.

The move has pushed back potential Royal Assent for the legislation by three-and-a half weeks and could delay deportation flights to Rwanda from May to June.

Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak has been urged to abandon his Rwanda scheme by a United Nations human rights watchdog.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) called on the UK Government to abandon the policy and repeal measures already in legislation as part of the Prime Minister’s plan to “stop the boats” crossing the English Channel.

But UK sources accused the UN of “double standards” because the international body already sends refugees to Rwanda.

The international panel was “deeply concerned about the introduction of legislative initiatives containing elements that discriminate against migrants and that seek to limit access to rights for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants”, such as the Illegal Migration Act 2023.

The committee said the law, which is intended to stop people who arrive in the UK illegally from being able to stay here, effectively amounts to an “asylum ban”.

The human rights body said it “regrets” the Rwanda plan and the Government’s efforts to adopt the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill “despite the ruling of the UK Supreme Court that the arrangement would not be compliant with international law”.