UK Supreme Court - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

UK’s Rwanda plan: Which other nations send asylum seekers abroad?

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a setback to his plans to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda after parliament's upper house backed a largely symbolic motion to delay ratification of a treaty aimed at overcoming a legal block. Sunak's "Safety of Rwanda" bill seeks to override a decision by the UK Supreme Court, which ruled last month that the East African country was an unsafe place to send asylum seekers, and the UK Supreme Court ruled last year that the East African nation was not a safe country to send people. Britain then signed a treaty with Rwanda, which it said addressed those…

Dec

2023

By PHILBERT GIRINEMA, ANDREW MACASKILL and MICHAEL HOLDEN

UK interior minister signs new Rwanda treaty to resurrect asylum plan

NEWS

BRITAIN signed a new treaty with Rwanda which it said would overcome a court decision blocking its plan to deport asylum seekers to the East African country, a ruling that dealt a huge blow to the government's immigration policy. The Rwanda scheme is at the centre of the government's strategy to stop illegal migration and is being watched closely by other countries considering similar policies. But last month, the United Kingdom's Supreme Court ruled that the plan would violate international human rights laws enshrined in domestic legislation. Under the new treaty, signed by British Home Secretary (interior minister) James Cleverly and which…

Nov

2023

By The African Mirror

UK’s failed asylum deportation plan puts Rwanda’s human rights and refugee struggles in the spotlight

HUMAN RIGHTS

THE UK Supreme Court ruled on 15 November 2023 that sending asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful. The plan would have seen tens of thousands of asylum seekers sent from the UK to Rwanda, which would then process and host such refugees indefinitely. EVAN EASTON-CALABRIA, Senior Researcher at the Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, and Research Associate at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford Along with countless refugee and human rights groups – including the United Nations – I raised red flags about the plan and welcomed the decision to halt it. My research and work over more than…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

Nigerian communities file damages claim against Shell in London court

NEWS

MORE than 11,000 Nigerians from the oil-producing Niger Delta have filed a compensation claim against Shell at the London High Court, the latest step in a case that will test whether multinationals can be held to account for the actions of overseas subsidiaries. In 2021, the UK Supreme Court allowed a group of 42,500 Nigerian farmers and fishermen to sue Shell in the English courts after years of oil spills had contaminated land and groundwater. The judges said at the time there was an arguable case that Shell, one of the world's biggest energy companies, was responsible because it exercised significant control over…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

42 500 Nigerians farmers win the right to sue Shell in the UK

NEWS

JULIA PAYNE and KIRSTIN RIDLEY The UK Supreme Court has allowed a group of 42,500 Nigerian farmers and fishermen to sue Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) in English courts after years of oil spills in the Niger Delta contaminated land and groundwater. Senior judges said there was an arguable case that UK-domiciled Shell, one of the world's biggest energy companies, is responsible, in the latest test of whether multinationals can be held to account for the acts of overseas subsidiaries. Represented by law firm Leigh Day, the group of Nigerians have argued that the parent company Shell owed them a duty…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

UK regulator, insurers, set for November court battle over COVID-19 case

WORLD

KIRSTIN RIDLEY and CAROLYN COHN THE UK Supreme Court will hear an appeal on November 16 of the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) test case over which insurance companies should offer payouts to small businesses battered by the coronavirus pandemic. The hearing is expected to last four days, the court said in a statement. Small businesses – from cafes and wedding planners to events businesses – have said they faced ruin after attempts to claim compensation for business losses during the pandemic, which prompted a three-month national lockdown in March followed by other restrictive measures, were rejected by insurers. The FCA,…