In a new podcast for Oxford Human Rights Hub, Dr Catherine Briddick discusses the UK-Rwanda asylum agreement, which aims to enable the transfer or forced removal of asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda to have their claims determined there in accordance with Rwandan asylum and immigration law.
As Dr Briddick states, the Nationality and Borders Act, which became law in April 2022, provides “the domestic legal foundation for the externalisation of refugee determination and protection”. This Act “criminalises people simply for seeking protection in the UK; will make it harder for them to be recognised as refugees if they are not deported or transferred to Rwanda; and it will deny them key rights”.
Importantly, she says, “the UK-Rwanda Agreement creates a two-tiered system, where some asylum-seekers have their claims determined in the UK, and have the rights that go with that here, while others will have their claims determined under Rwandan asylum and immigration law. It’s this difference in treatment that creates the potential for rights to be violated.”
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