Rwanda has launched an arbitration case against the United Kingdom, claiming it is owed more than 130 million dollars following the cancellation of a controversial asylum agreement.
In a filing submitted to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the East African country argues that Britain breached the terms of a “migration partnership” signed in 2022. Under the deal, the UK agreed to pay Rwanda to receive asylum seekers and migrants who arrived in Britain illegally.
The scheme, introduced by the former Conservative government, was scrapped in 2024 by Prime Minister Keir Starmer shortly after he took office.
Rwanda says it had agreed to waive further payments if the treaty was terminated and new financial arrangements were negotiated. However, Kigali argues that those talks never happened, leaving Britain in breach of its obligations.
The Rwandan government also accuses the UK of backing away from a commitment to resettle vulnerable refugees with complex needs who were already being hosted in Rwanda.
Before it was abandoned, the asylum deal faced multiple legal challenges in the UK. The Supreme Court ruled that Rwanda could not be considered a safe country for asylum seekers and found that transferring migrants there would violate both domestic and international law.
