Court rejects Rwanda $135M claim against Britain over migrant deal

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — An international court on Monday rejected a claim by Rwanda for Britain to pay more than 100 million pounds ($135 million) it said London still owed from a scrapped deal to deport migrants.

Judges from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that Britain was not liable for two years of outstanding costs from the scheme that was shelved in 2024.

“The U.K. robustly defended its position and the tribunal has now ruled in favor of the U.K. on all grounds,” said a government spokesman in London.

“We are now focused on delivering vital reforms to restore order and control to our borders, including removing the incentives drawing illegal migrants to Britain and scaling up removals of those with no right to be here,” he added in a statement to AFP.

In 2022, then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson sealed a deal with Kigali to send to Rwanda migrants arriving in Britain via “dangerous or illegal journeys” in small boats or trucks.

But the scheme hit legal and political obstacles from the start, with the U.K. Supreme Court eventually ruling it illegal.

When Keir Starmer became British prime minister in July 2024, he declared the plan “dead and buried” on his first full day in office, dismissing it as a “gimmick.”

Then Interior Minister Yvette Cooper called it “the most shocking waste of taxpayers’ money I have ever seen”.

During the two years before the scheme was scrapped, only four people actually went to Rwanda, all voluntarily, according to the current U.K. government.

According to the U.K. government website, about 290 million pounds has already been paid to Rwanda, but Kigali argued in its pre-hearing submissions to the PCA that two annual payments of 50 million pounds were still outstanding.

But the PCA, set up in 1899 to settle contractual disputes between nations, rejected by majority a 50 million-pound claim for one year and unanimously rejected the same amount for the second.

The two nations are already at loggerheads after Britain slashed aid to Rwanda, accusing it of supporting M23 rebels in neighboring Congo.

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By Agence France-Presse