As part of a highly contentious agreement between London and Kigali, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has decided to investigate the application of an Iraqi asylum seeker who faces deportation from the United Kingdom to Rwanda.
The Council of Europe’s judicial arm said in a statement on Tuesday that it had sent “questions to the parties” in this case, a procedural step in the examination of this individual application filed on March 15, which does not prejudge the Court’s decision on the admissibility of the complaint or a possible conviction of the United Kingdom, which will be made later.
The applicant, who was born in 1968, left Iraq in April 2022 and arrived in the United Kingdom on May 17, where he was denied asylum, according to the Strasbourg-based court.
He was then informed of his deportation to Rwanda, in accordance with the agreement between London and Kigali on the deportation of illegal migrants signed in April 2022.
However, much to London’s chagrin, on June 14, 2022, the European Court invoked Rule 39 of its Rules of Procedure – the one that governs emergency measures – to request that the United Kingdom not expel him. The Court took similar action in the case of two other migrants facing deportation to Rwanda.
The applicant claimed that if he was deported to Rwanda, “he would not have access to an adequate refugee status determination procedure,” citing article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment).
According to the ECHR, those deported to Rwanda, which has been condemned by many human rights organizations, risk “detention” and “treatment that does not meet international standards if they express dissatisfaction or protest against their conditions after arrival.”
The British Conservatives have made tackling illegal immigration, one of the promises of the “Brexit,” one of their priorities.
But migrants have never been so numerous to cross the Channel on small boats to reach the United Kingdom. More than 45,000 arrived on English shores in 2022, compared to 28,526 in 2021.
In December, the High Court in London ruled that the scheme to deport people to Rwanda was “legal”. But in January, the British courts agreed to review the government’s plan to deploy it as soon as possible.