Amnesty UK letter to Permanent Secretary on UK-Rwanda Memorandum

This resource contains correspondence regarding Amnesty International UK’s objections to the UK–Rwanda asylum deal, outlining concerns raised with the Home Office and the subsequent government response.

• On 14 April 2022, the Government announced a Memorandum of Understanding with Rwanda under which the UK proposes to expel people seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda. People expelled under this deal, and their asylum claims, are to become the sole responsibility of the Rwandan Government. It is left under the deal for the Rwandan Government to decide whether to receive any person whom the UK Government proposes to expel. The deal itself is expressly stated to have no binding legal authority.
• On 21 April 2022, Amnesty UK wrote to the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office concerning this deal. Our letter, which is provided here, briefly sets out our principled objection to this deal and then identifies several questions for the Home Office to answer.
• On 10 June 2022, Amnesty UK received a response to our letter. That response is also provided here.