Rwanda told a panel of international arbitrators on Wednesday that Britain still owes it £100 million ($134 million) under the controversial refugee resettlement agreement that Prime Minister Keir Starmer cancelled days after taking office in 2024.
The claim was made on the opening day of a three-day public hearing at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, where Rwanda’s Justice Minister and Attorney General Emmanuel Ugirashebuja argued that Britain’s unilateral termination of the deal did not extinguish its outstanding payment obligations.
“Rwanda set up an asylum appeals chamber, created ministerial and administrative structures and prepared reception facilities for the incoming refugees and incurred significant costs in doing so,” Ugirashebuja told the tribunal.
The original agreement, struck in 2022 under Starmer’s predecessor Rishi Sunak, was designed to deter Channel crossings by flying migrants who arrived in the UK illegally to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed. It included structured annual payments to Kigali to cover implementation costs.
The scheme never deported a single person. It weathered repeated legal challenges before the UK Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that Rwanda could not be considered a safe country for asylum seekers — a finding the government later sought to override through legislation.
Britain paid Rwanda approximately £290 million in setup and preparatory costs before Starmer’s Labour government axed the deal shortly after its July 2024 election victory, dismissing it as ineffective and a drain on public funds.
Rwanda launched arbitration proceedings at the PCA in January 2025, arguing that cancellation breached the treaty’s terms. In its 37-page submission, Kigali contends it is owed two unpaid annual instalments of £50 million each — due in April 2025 and April 2026 — insisting that termination “does not change the UK’s obligation to pay any amount that was already due and payable.”
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Rwanda is also pursuing an additional £6 million, alleging London failed to honour a reciprocal clause requiring Britain to accept a number of vulnerable refugees from Rwanda, including those fleeing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The UK government has pushed back, arguing no further payments are owed and pointing to an alleged November 2024 understanding in which Rwanda agreed to waive the remaining sums. London has also stressed its duty to protect taxpayers from the costs of what it calls a fundamentally flawed policy.
The PCA — established in 1899 to adjudicate disputes between states — is expected to deliberate for months before issuing a binding ruling. The hearing runs through March 20 and is open to the public and diplomatic corps.
The case lays bare the enduring fallout from one of Britain’s most divisive immigration policies in recent memory — one that consumed hundreds of millions in public money without ever removing a single person from UK soil.
Credit: African News