2024 - UK - European court blocks British deportation to Rwanda

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The refugees are to be brought to the East African country by plane. The project has now been shelved.

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Britain not to fly an Iraqi asylum seeker to Rwanda for the time being.
The court’s decision was made on Tuesday evening, shortly before the man was to be taken to the East African country with other people.
In a so-called interim measure, the court asked the British authorities to take the man out of the country at the earliest in three weeks after a final decision in his ongoing proceedings in Great Britain.

The court should be informed about the final decision in the Iraqi case. The European Court of Human Rights also states that interim measures are binding and are only imposed rarely and in the event of an imminent risk of irreparable damage.

With the deportation flights to Rwanda for illegally entered asylum seekers, the British government wants to prevent other people from coming to Great Britain via the English Channel. However, since the deportation program became known in April, 3,500 people have crossed the Channel to Britain – far more than in the same period a year ago. “But the measure is certainly also part of Boris Johnson’s survival strategy,” says SRF correspondent Patrik Wülser. After all, it is his Brexit promise to get immigration under control.

It was initially unclear whether the decision would affect other asylum seekers who Britain wants to bring to Rwanda. A first plane should take off on Tuesday evening. The number of passengers had recently shrunk significantly, as other asylum seekers sued successfully in British courts.