ECHR ruling stymies UK efforts to deport asylum seekers

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The flight set to send the first batch of asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda on Tuesday was canceled minutes before it was set to take off after a European rights court issued a ruling to remove an Iraqi man from the flight, a move that kick-started a chain of reactions that led to the dismissal of the remaining six asylum seekers from the plane and the eventual abandonment of the fight.

Thirty one migrants were scheduled to be sent out to Rwanda but a UK-based charity late Monday said 24 of them had their tickets canceled. Only seven migrants, including two Iraqis, were set to fly out to the African nation, according to Care4Calais. 

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday ruled that one of the asylum seekers on the flight, an Iraqi man referred to as KN, was not to be removed from the country for at least three weeks until a final decision was made in his judicial review proceedings. The ruling paved the way for the lawyers of the six remaining asylum seekers to make similar claims, and eventually succeed in removing their clients from the flight. 

KN had previously appealed to the court in UK, questioning the safety of Rwanda for the asylum seeker, but his case was dismissed on Monday. However, the court stated that they would hear the applicant’s judicial review challenge in July, and if successful, he could return to the UK.

Born in 1968, KN had left Iraq in April this year and applied for asylum in the UK upon his arrival on May 17, claiming that his life was in danger in his home country, the court papers showed. The ECHR cited a medical report from the Immigration Removal Centre in the UK on May 27 indicating that the asylum seeker might have been a victim of torture, three days after UK authorities had handed him a notice of intent, deeming his asylum claim “inadmissible.”

The ECHR stated that there was no legally enforceable method to ensure KN’s return from Rwanda.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel issued a rebuttal of the ECHR ruling, stating that although “disappointed in the decision,” she vows not to be "deterred from doing the right thing.”

Yolande Makolo, spokesperson for the Rwandan government made a similar statement to Patel’s, telling AFP on Wednesday that Rwanda will not be “deterred by these developments” and that they remain committed to their partnership with the UK. 

"Rwanda stands ready to receive the migrants when they do arrive and offer them safety and opportunity in our country,” she added.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the Rwanda plan in April in a bid to deter illegal migrants from undertaking perilous crossing of the English Channel by small boats run by smugglers. 

The plan has been widely criticized by human rights agencies, advocates, and the UN.

"The UK says... we do this to save people from dangerous journeys. Let me doubt that a little bit," Filippo Grandi, UN refugee agency chief told reporters on Monday.

"Saving people from dangerous journeys is great, is absolutely great. But is that the right way to do it?" he asked. "I don't think so."

The UK delivered an up-front payment for the African nation of about $157 million to help pay for resettlement and integration of the asylum seekers.