However, Lord Justice Lewis and Mr Justice Swift also held the Home Office failed to consider the individual circumstances in the eight rolled-up cases put before it and must now reconsider each one, in AAA v Home Secretary (Rwanda) [2022] EWHC 3230 (Admin).
Delivering their judgment, Lewis LJ and Swift J said ‘the way in which the Home Secretary went about the implementation of her policy in a number of the individual cases before us, was flawed… [and the decisions]… will be quashed’.
Law Society president Lubna Shuja said access to justice for any person considered for removal to Rwanda must remain paramount in Home Office decision-making. She said the case was likely to be appealed and would therefore not be settled for some time.
‘Whatever the final outcome, we hope the government will commit to taking a measured approach and continue to review its obligations under international and domestic law,’ Shuja said.
‘When considering individual cases, the government should always assess whether removing the individual would be in breach of their human rights. The government must ensure that any affected individual has proper access to a lawyer, that the specific facts of each case are scrupulously considered by the Home Office and enough time is provided for people to challenge a removal, when appropriate.’
