Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill: Contrary to the rule of law and an abuse of Parliament’s role

As the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill has its Second Reading in the House of Commons today, ATLEU joins over 90 civil society organisations condemning the Bill as contrary to the rule of law and an abuse of Parliament’s role. We are asking MPs to reject it in its entirety.

This Joint Briefing by the Immigration Lawyers Practitioners’ Association (ILPA), JUSTICE and Freedom from Torture, endorsed by 91 organisations including ATLEU, highlights that the Bill, which builds on the Illegal Migration Act 2023:  

• Legislates a legal fiction, reversing the Supreme Court’s factual assessment of the risk of harm in Rwanda, without properly addressing the Court’s concerns about the Rwandan asylum system and ousting our domestic courts’ jurisdiction to consider the issue

• Disapplies domestic treaties that the UK remains bound by internationally, showing bad faith, setting poor precedent and making the UK an unreliable partner internationally

• Breaches the European Convention on Human Rights (‘ECHR’). As victims and survivors of trafficking and modern slavery are among those who face forced removal to Rwanda, it is also contrary to the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Action against Trafficking (ECAT)

• Is an attack on judicial scrutiny, undermining our constitutional separation of powers.