UK’ High Court grants permission to appeal over Rwanda deportation policy

By Mehmet Solmaz

BIRMINGHAM, England (AA) — The top court in London granted an appeal to a charity which challenged the court’s decision that the government’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda while their status is decided are lawful in broad principle.

In December, the government beat back a legal challenge to its irregular migrant policy as the High Court pawed the way for the deportations. In a 139-page ruling, Lord Justice Lewis said the controversial policy, first introduced under then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was "consistent with the refugee convention.” Although judges dismissed the challenges against the policy as a whole, they found that the government had failed to consider individual cases of eight asylum seekers.

Pushing back against criticisms, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she wants to press on with the deportation policy “as soon as possible,” adding that the government stands ready to defend the policy “against any further legal challenge.”

However, the policy has been under fire from many human rights groups and opposition parties. Speaking to Anadolu Agency after the initial ruling, Karen Doyle, the spokesperson of Here to Stay UK, a charity campaigning against Rwanda deportations, accused the British government of “using racism and anti-immigrant policies to prop up failing government.”

For nongovernmental organizations, one fear is that the current government may withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights to avoid further legal challenges to its policy, as domestically UK courts are not expected to call off the policy.

The plan was initially challenged with lawyers on behalf of asylum seekers, arguing that the government had ignored the evidence that the Central African country violates human rights.

The Rwanda plan would see asylum seekers who crossed the English Channel in small boats deported to Rwanda, where their claims would be processed. It was suspended amid a slew of legal challenges.