Rwanda seeks £100M from the UK in arbitration over scrapped refugee deal

Rwanda has told a panel of international arbitrators that Britain still owes it 100 million pounds ($115 million) under a controversial refugee resettlement deal that Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped immediately after taking office in 2024

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Rwanda told a panel of international arbitrators Wednesday that Britain still owes it 100 million pounds ($115 million) under a controversial refugee resettlement deal that Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped immediately after taking office in 2024.

The 2022 deal struck by Starmer's predecessor Rishi Sunak involved sending migrants who arrive in the U.K. as stowaways or in boats to the East African country. It included arrangements for payments to Rwanda to help cover costs.

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,” Rwanda’s Justice Minister and Attorney General Emmanuel Ugirashebuja told a hearing at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

But when Starmer took office, “The new prime minister declared the Rwanda scheme to be dead and buried on his first full day in office,” Ugirashebuja said. “The United Kingdom did not do Rwanda the courtesy of informing it in advance. Instead, Rwanda was left to read about these developments in the media.”

The British government is urging the court to dismiss Rwanda's claims, arguing that the two countries agreed in November 2024 that Rwanda would forgo the payments.