Rwanda has told a panel of international arbitrators that the United Kingdom still owes it £100 million ($115 million) under a 2022 refugee resettlement agreement scrapped by Prime Minister Keir Starmer shortly after taking office in 2024.
The controversial deal, struck by Starmer’s predecessor Rishi Sunak, proposed sending migrants arriving in the UK via boats or as stowaways to Rwanda for asylum processing. The agreement included payments to Rwanda to support reception facilities, administrative structures, and an asylum appeals chamber.
At a hearing at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Rwanda’s Justice Minister and Attorney General Emmanuel Ugirashebuja said the East African nation incurred substantial costs preparing for the plan. He claimed the UK unilaterally terminated the deal under Starmer without prior notice, effectively leaving Rwanda uncompensated.
The UK government, however, has asked the court to dismiss Rwanda’s claims, asserting that a November 2024 agreement confirmed Rwanda would forgo the payments. Rwanda denies any such waiver, with Ugirashebuja arguing that London is attempting to evade its contractual obligations.
Legal experts note that the arbitration will hinge on proving whether the November 2024 agreement exists and its scope. Joelle Grogan, a senior research fellow at UCD Sutherland School of Law, told the Associated Press, “The case at hand…is the fact that Rwanda says, you still owe us the money. We never agreed to forego that hundred million pounds. The UK response in this is, yes, you absolutely did.”
The plan, originally conceived by Sunak, involved relocating migrants to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed, and, if approved, they could remain in the country. However, the UK Supreme Court later ruled that Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country for such migrants, rendering the policy unlawful.
The scheme, which faced widespread criticism from human rights groups, legal challenges, and parliamentary scrutiny, reportedly cost the UK public £700 million ($904 million), including payments to Rwanda, chartered flights that never operated, and salaries for over a thousand civil servants involved in the program.
Rwanda formally launched arbitration proceedings in January, claiming that London’s cancellation violated multiple provisions of the deal, including commitments to resettle vulnerable refugees from Rwanda. The Permanent Court of Arbitration, based at the Peace Palace in The Hague, is expected to take several months to reach a decision following this week’s hearings.
