LONDON - The British government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful, London’s Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday.

The judgment is a blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to stop migrants from arriving on small boats.

The policy sought to fly refugees who arrive in Britain some 6,400km to Rwanda.

The three senior appeal court judges ruled, by a majority, that Rwanda could not be treated as a safe third country.

Judge Ian Burnett said the majority found “the deficiencies in the asylum system in Rwanda are such that there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk that persons sent to Rwanda will be returned to their home countries where they face persecution and other inhumane treatment”.

Asylum seekers, backed by non-governmental organisations, had challenged the policy in London, condemning the move as authoritarian. A High Court judge backed the government programme as lawful in December.

The planned flights to Rwanda – which were slated to take off from a military base in Wiltshire – were thwarted in June 2022 after a last-minute intervention from the European Court of Human Rights.

Mr Sunak’s contentious Illegal Migration Bill to stop the flow of small boats crossing the English Channel was voted through by politicians in the House of Commons in April.

According to a government estimate earlier this week, the UK would have to spend £169,000 (S$289,000) per person to deport the almost 11,000 people who have made the crossing so far this year.

The number of pending asylum application in the UK mounted to 133,607 as of end March. Three of every four pending applications have been awaiting an initial decision for more than six months.

Mr Sunak said the government will seek to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision.

“While I respect the court I fundamentally disagree with their conclusions,” Mr Sunak said in a statement. “Rwanda is a safe country ... We will now seek permission to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.” REUTERS, BLOOMBERG