International arbitrators reject $134M claim by Rwanda against UK for scrapped migrant deal

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A panel of international arbitrators has rejected a multimillion-dollar claim by Rwanda against the United Kingdom linked to a refugee resettlement deal that Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped immediately after taking office in 2024.

The deal, struck in 2022 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. Starmer’s home secretary at the time the deal was scrapped, Yvette Cooper, called it the “most shocking waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen.”

The Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected two Rwandan claims, each for 50 million pounds ($67 million), linked to funding for the canceled deal. The decision was dated May 15, but formally announced by the Hague-based panel on Monday. It also rejected two other Rwandan claims linked to alleged breaches by the U.K. of the pact.

In a 76-page ruling, the panel said that written diplomatic exchanges between the two countries after Starmer scrapped the deal amounted to an agreement that the U.K. would not make the two 50 million-pound payments, due in April of 2025 and 2026, to cover costs of migrant relocations.

Under the deal, migrants were to be sent to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed and, if successful, they would stay. Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that the policy was unlawful because Rwanda is not a safe third country for migrants sent there.

The British government said in a statement: “The U.K. robustly defended its position, and the tribunal has now ruled in favor of the U.K. on all grounds."

It added that Starmer's under-fire government is "now focused on delivering vital reforms to restore order and control to our borders, including removing the incentives drawing illegal migrants to Britain and scaling up removals of those with no right to be here.”

There was no immediate response from Rwanda.

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless contributed from London.