UN refugee agency intervenes in UK court case against the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda, saying that the country's asylum system is inadequate and exposes refugees to the refoulement risks.The opposition Labour Party pledges to scrap the Rwanda asylum plan if elected. / Photo: Reuters
Lawyers representing the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees say removing asylum seekers to Rwanda puts them at risk of being sent to another country where they face potential death or torture, known as refoulement. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in response to that ruling signed a new treaty with Rwanda and pushed new legislation through parliament, declaring that Rwanda must be treated as a safe country.
She added that British officials were told by UNHCR officials last year of"at least seven cases of refoulement" in 2023 at a meeting in Kigali on Dec. 7, the same day Sunak introduced Britain's new Rwanda law into parliament.