Rwanda has announced it is suing the United Kingdom to demand compensation for the canceled, controversial migrant agreement, under which Rwanda was to receive deported asylum seekers from the UK.
Rwanda announced on Tuesday that it had filed proceedings with the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The migrant deal entered into force on April 25, 2024. In July 2024, shortly after taking office, the U.K.’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the deal was “dead and buried.”
“He did so without prior notice to Rwanda, contrary to the spirit of the partnership that had always characterized the agreement,” the Rwandan government said in a statement.
Under the deal, signed with former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Britain agreed to pay Rwanda to take in asylum seekers who had arrived in the U.K. illegally.
Only four people came to Rwanda voluntarily. Sunak’s successor, Starmer, rejected the controversial plan as soon as his Labour government came to power later that month.
In 2023, the U.K. Supreme Court found the deal between Rwanda and the U.K. to be “unlawful,” ruling that it violated both U.K. law and international law and ordering it to be scrapped.
