The Rwanda bill explained: What is the controversial policy and what happens next?
The IndependentGet the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Then last November, the Supreme Court, the UK’s highest court, also ruled the policy was unlawful and could not go ahead as it was, concluding there was a real risk that genuine refugees sent to Rwanda could be returned to their home country, where they would face “ill-treatment”. The Safety of Rwanda Bill compels judges to regard the country as “safe” and disapplies sections of the Human Rights Act and international law. In February this year, Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights said the proposed Rwanda law was “fundamentally incompatible” with the UK’s human rights obligations and would flout international law. But it’s possible that the European Court of Human Rights could again prove a stumbling block, if it orders flights be blocked, as it did in 2022 – sending government plans back to square one.