Giving evidence to the House of Lords International Agreements Committee last week, the Law Society highlighted that the UK would be unable to protect an asylum seeker’s human rights. It warned people would be given insufficient notice or time to get legal advice about their removal―just 14 days, or seven days if in immigration detention.
Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said monitoring bodies referred to in the agreement have not been set up and there were few details. Moreover, Boyce said there was a risk individuals removed by the UK might face persecution in Rwanda or be returned to their country of origin, breaking the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees prohibition on ‘refoulement’.
The Committee, chaired by Baroness Hayter, is conducting an inquiry into the memorandum of understanding between the UK and Rwanda for an asylum partnership agreement.
