British Supreme Court hears arguments on Rwanda deportation policy

Oct. 9 (UPI) -- An appeal by the British government seeking to overturn a ruling that its policy of sending asylum seekers who arrive in the country without permission to Rwanda was illegal began in the Supreme Court on Monday.

The Home Office is challenging the decision of the Court of Appeal in June that the plan to send people to have their claims assessed in Rwanda was not legal because it had not provided sufficient guarantees to prove it was a "safe third country."

The three-day hearing before a bench of the country's top five judges will listen to arguments over whether the 2-1 ruling by the lower court was correct that there was a "real risk" asylum seekers with strong claims could be sent back to the country they were fleeing in the first place to face persecution or other abuses.

"The appeal is, at its heart, about the judgments made by government about the future conduct of a friendly foreign state -- Rwanda," said the barrister for the Home Office, Sir James Eadie KC.

The was a "strong public interest" in trying to discourage people from embarking on dangerous journeys to reach Britain, he told the bench.

Eadie added the government had attached "considerable importance" to its Rwanda deportation policy because there was an urgent need for "effective steps that will act as a deterrent to those undertaking the perilous and sometimes life-threatening journey, typically across the Channel, from a safe country".

The Court of Appeal, in turn, had overturned an earlier ruling by the High Court that the government could proceed with the deal struck with Rwanda in April 2022 by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson to tackle people smuggling and reduce the number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats.

In June 2022, refugee advocacy groups sought an emergency injunction in the High Court ahead of the first removal flight but a judge threw out the challenge clearing the way for the flights to Kigali to begin.

But the decision that led to the issue being embroiled in the courts for the past 16 months was taken in Strasbourg as the first flight was on the tarmac ready for take-off with seven asylum seekers aboard June 14, 2022, by the European Court of Human Rights.

The court used the 1951 Refugee Convention, of which Britain is a signatory, to place a block on the flights, ruling that British judges had to be granted more time to properly evaluate the policy.

If the Supreme Court upholds the Appeal Court's ruling, the Rwanda policy will be at the end of the road. However, if it finds for the appellant, it could clear the way for the first deportation flights to begin within weeks.