Governance in Rwanda: London’s Failed Asylum Policy – and the Alternative

Status: 3:48 PM| Reading time: 2 minutes

DrBritain’s Court of Appeal ruled this week that London cannot transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda to process their claims in West Africa. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak responded angrily. His government “should be able to identify who comes into our country, not criminal gangs.”

Britain’s attempt to discourage migrants from fleeing to Europe by outsourcing asylum procedures is being watched closely in Germany and elsewhere. In the second case, Sunak has now failed. Two of the three judges said his conservative government’s plans violated international law.

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There is a very real risk that asylum seekers will be returned to their countries of origin and face torture and persecution there. In doing so, the British government violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights – the prohibition against torture.

However, the three justices did not fundamentally question the government’s right to transfer persons seeking protection to safe third countries. Rather, he argues, on the basis of the Geneva Refugee Convention, that “there is in principle nothing to prevent the UK from deporting asylum-seekers to safe third countries”. This is exactly what Britain has been doing for many years, sending thousands of migrants to the continent every year thanks to its membership in the European Union and the Dublin System.

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From a European point of view, this raises two options that should be discussed without emotion. Is it ever possible to outsource the asylum procedure to another country if the referring state has no control over the treatment of those seeking protection there? This is exactly what the British failed to do.

If the answer to the first option is no, then the following is: Is it possible to set up centers close to the EU borders so that the required deterrent effect can be achieved by outsourcing the asylum procedure? And to manage this across national borders and on the basis of European laws and values ​​by a higher authority like the UN or agencies like Frontex? In the end, it must be about one thing above all else: promoting the rights of all those who really need protection.