A NEW treaty between the UK and Rwanda has been signed in a bid to revive the Tories’ unlawful deportation deal.
James Cleverly signed off the new document in Kigali on Tuesday in the UK Government’s first step in circumventing the Supreme Court’s ruling the deal is unlawful.
No asylum seekers have been sent to the country in the £140 million deal, which would see migrants arriving in the UK in small boats sent to Rwanda to claim asylum there instead.
The Government suffered a crushing defeat when Britain’s highest court ruled the deal unlawful – but has pledged to get it over the line amid complaints from the right of the Conservative Party.
The Supreme Court ruled that Rwanda was not a safe country to send asylum seekers because there was a risk they could be sent to their unsafe countries, where they may face persecution – something officially known as refoulement.
The new treaty seeks to put restrictions in place to require Rwanda to avoid this from happening, including creating a new appeals process in the Rwandan high court to make it harder for asylum seekers sent there to be deported.
British and Commonwealth judges, as well as Rwandan judges, will preside over the appeal court hearings. Rulings will decide whether an asylum seeker remains in Rwanda or is sent back to the UK, according to the PA news agency.
An independent monitoring authority, set up to oversee the policy between the two countries, was initially only to visit the country and review the work once a year but will now meet more regularly in a bid to bolster the level of scrutiny the scheme is given, according to officials.
Cleverly told a press conference in Kigali that the Rwandan government had made a "clear and unambiguous commitment" to the safety of asylum seekers sent there.
He also said Rwanda had not requested any more money from the UK for the new treaty.
The new treaty will only come into force if it is ratified by both the UK and Rwandan parliaments – a process which could take months.
Cleverly said he was confident the new treaty addressed “all of the issues” the Supreme Court identified in the previously deal.
Rwanda’s foreign affairs minister Vincent Biruta complained his country had been “unfairly treated” by courts, international organisations and the media.
He invited critics to offer “alternatives” to the plan and said now was the time to “move forward” with the partnership.
Asked why Kigali was “bending over backwards” to continue with the plan despite criticism, Biruta told a press conference: “It is not helpful for all of us to criticise a country like Rwanda which is contributing to a solution while we are not even addressing the root causes… which produce those refugees.
“We were unfairly treated by international organisations, by the media, by courts, but we believe we are doing the right things and those who are criticising us should bring up alternatives to the solution they’re proposing.
“So let’s just move forward to implement what we have agreed to do and just wait for those who are criticising us to say what alternative system they are going to propose.”
