Rwanda Act – Updated Briefing

May 13, 2024

Following the passage into law of the Safety of Rwanda Act the Human Rights Consortium has updated its briefing note on the implications of this legislation for human rights in Northern Ireland.

The UK government recently passed the ‘Safety of Rwanda Act’ which seeks to limit the use of human rights laws to challenge their attempts to automatically remove asylum seekers to Rwanda. The Consortium had criticized the introduction of the Bill as a violation of basic human rights guarantees of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, the Windsor Framework and International agreements like the EU/UK Withdrawal Agreement.

This updated briefing now reviews the Rwanda Act in the context of what we know following judgments on the Legacy Act and Illegal Migration Act cases taken in Northern Ireland. Both judgments have substantively limited the scope of the both pieces of legislation following a finding of violation of both the Human Right Act/ECHR and Article 2 of the Windsor Framework. The Consortium briefing outlines how these same restrictions are likely to apply to the Rwanda Act given the failures to take account of these vital protections when the legislation was being drafted.