The Know Daily - Wednesday 6 December 2023

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Massive Attack is planning a one-day music festival that will be powered by 100% renewable energy - aiming to prove to the industry that slow-carbon festivals are possible. Food vendors at the summer event will also be vetted to ensure they use locally sourced produce, and a “climate-resilient woodland” will be created after the show.

🇷🇼 A new Rwanda treaty

Home Secretary James Cleverly has inked a new treaty with the Rwandan government, which Downing Street says will guarantee the safety of asylum seekers sent to the east African country.

Tell me more.
In Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, on Tuesday, Cleverly and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta signed an “asylum partnership”, which they said addressed the concerns which saw the Supreme Court block the government’s “flagship” plan for asylum seekers last month. 

Under the controversial policy, anybody who arrives in the UK illegally via small boats will be given “a one-way ticket to Rwanda”, explained the BBC. The government has already paid Rwanda £140m for the scheme - but although three home secretaries have now made the journey, not one migrant from the UK has yet.

Remind me what happened last month?
On 15 November, judges at the Supreme Court - the UK’s highest court - blocked the plan, citing safety concerns. The court found that “significant changes” were needed before there could be confidence that Rwandan courts would not send asylum seekers on to dangerous third countries. 

PM Rishi Sunak vowed to deal with the concerns and pressure was placed on him from the right of his party to ditch the UK’s human rights framework to get the scheme off the ground.

How is the new treaty different?
The new, 43-page agreement between the two countries “sets out several new safeguards to bolster the Rwandan asylum and judicial system”, said The Times. It prevents Rwanda from sending migrants on to their home country, where they could be persecuted, and details the creation of a new appeals body.

Cleverly said the new treaty means he “cannot see any credible reason” why Rwanda will be deemed an unsafe country for asylum seekers in the future - although Labour’s home affairs spokesperson Yvette Cooper dismissed the updated agreement as another “gimmick”.

What next?
Sunak is expected to announce an updated asylum bill this week, which No. 10 says will deal with the Supreme Court’s concerns. However, this next step “is likely to trigger a new round of political and legal wrangling”, said The Guardian.