Government lawyers are set to present their case to the UK's highest court on Monday, urging it to overturn a previous ruling that deemed a plan to deport migrants to Rwanda as unlawful.
This plan, championed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, faced a setback when London's Court of Appeal declared it illegal in June.
The Court of Appeal argued that sending tens of thousands of migrants over 6,400 km to East Africa was not lawful because Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country. They stated that those deported to Rwanda might face persecution, despite having valid asylum claims, which would violate the UK's Human Rights Act, incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights into British law.
The Court of Appeal's decision had significant implications for Sunak's pledge to curb the arrival of migrants in small boats on the English south coast, a key issue for the Conservative Party in the face of an expected election next year. Immigration remains a central concern for voters in the UK, and the government's handling of the matter has received widespread criticism.
Over the course of three days, the government will argue at the UK Supreme Court that the previous ruling was incorrect, while representatives of migrants from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, and Sudan will contend that the deportation plan itself is unlawful.
The outcome of this legal battle, with a final ruling anticipated by year-end, carries substantial political consequences. Sunak, whose party lags by approximately 20 points in opinion polls, has made "stopping the boats" one of his top priorities to bolster the Conservatives' standing.
The government's initial attempt to carry out a deportation flight to Rwanda was thwarted in June of the previous year due to an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights, pending the resolution of all UK legal proceedings.
Many members of Sunak's party advocate for the UK's withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights to avoid future conflicts. Home Secretary Suella Braverman recently labeled the Human Rights Act as the "Criminal Rights Act."
"I am confident our approach complies with our international obligations," Sunak asserted at the Conservative conference. "But know this, I will do whatever is necessary to stop the boats."
This case unfolds amid a global backdrop of governments grappling with the challenges posed by the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing conflict zones or seeking better prospects in the West. In the US, the Biden administration plans to extend sections of the border wall to curb the surge of migrants from Mexico. In Europe, countries are addressing the arrival of migrants from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, with migration topping the agenda in the recent EU leaders' meeting. Germany has implemented border checks to combat human smuggling in response to an estimated 250,000 migrants arriving this year. Photo by Niysam, Wikimedia commons.