The first reading in the House of Lords of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill took place on 18 January 2024. The bill was brought in response to the Supreme Court’s judgment in R (AAA (Syria) and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and other appeals [2023] UKSC 42 (see page 22 of this issue), in which it held that the home secretary’s intended policy of sending asylum-seekers to Rwanda under the Migration and Economic Development Partnership was unlawful due to risk of their ill-treatment by refoulement.

The new bill aims to defeat this finding, proposing that parliament declare that Rwanda is safe, and removing the courts’ and tribunals’ ability to consider challenges to removal decisions on the ground that the country is not safe. Central to this is a treaty with Rwanda, signed on 5 December 2023, which the government says will provide safeguards for people removed, including that they will not be at risk of refoulement. However, on 22 January 2024, following a report from its International Agreements Committee, the House of Lords voted for a motion to delay ratification of the treaty until the government is able to show that those safeguards are in place. The government may disregard that motion, but if it does so, peers are thought likely to insist on amendments to the bill instead.

The second reading is on 29 January 2024.