The Know Daily - Thursday 16 November 2023

_{Read in 5m 44s ∙ Listening to Dove Cameron}

The threatened pūteketeke (also known as the Australasian crested grebe) has been crowned New Zealand’s bird of the century. The creature won a huge share of the public vote after receiving the backing of British-American comedian John Oliver, who launched a billboard campaign in support of what he described as the “weird puking birds with colourful mullets”. 

🧑‍⚖️ The Rwanda ruling 

PM Rishi Sunak has vowed to introduce “emergency legislation” to make sure the government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is not blocked again, following yesterday’s UK Supreme Court ruling. 

Remind me what the plan involves?
The government’s flagship asylum policy, first announced in April last year, was unveiled in response to a soaring number of “perilous small boat crossings” across the English Channel, said CNN.

Under the policy, some asylum seekers would be deported to Rwanda - or another “safe” third country - while their claims are processed. Successful claimants would be allowed to remain in Rwanda, while those who are unsuccessful would be sent back to their country of origin. 

What did the Supreme Court say?
In its ruling on Wednesday, the UK’s highest court sided with a previous appeals court that had found the policy to be unlawful. 

The ruling “unanimously dismantled” the government’s appeal, said CNN, with judges once again finding that Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country. Refugees sent to the East African country would face a “real risk” of being returned to their country of origin, regardless of whether their grounds to claim asylum were justified, it found. 

How did Sunak respond?
In a press conference after the ruling, the PM pledged to stop the “merry-go-round” of legal challenges that have stopped flights from taking off. He said he had been working with Rwanda on a new international treaty to address the judges’ concerns.

He also said he would be introducing emergency legislation to “enable parliament to confirm that with our new treaty, Rwanda is safe”. “Flights will be heading off in the spring as planned,” he added.

Will this really happen?
The PM himself has acknowledged that even if domestic laws are changed, the government could still face international legal challenges. The ruling has reignited calls by some on the right of the Conservative Party to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), to allow the policy to go ahead.

However, it would be “extremely rare” for a country to withdraw from the ECHR’s jurisdiction, said The Guardian. In addition, the Supreme Court made clear yesterday that the UK is signed up to a number of other international treaties - and not just the ECHR - which “prohibit the return of asylum seekers to their countries of origin without a proper examination of their claims".