Rwanda scheme: UN agency warns of new abuses evidence

Mr Bottinick said the incidents continued to undermine the “fairness, reliability and coherence” of Rwanda’s process for assessing refugees – but that the UN’s team needed more time to gather and fact-check these incidents before they could be presented in court.

The agency’s lawyers also told the court that its staff had met British officials in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, on 7 December last year, and told them they knew of at least seven cases of refoulement during 2023.

That same day, Rishi Sunak unveiled his new Rwanda plan, which bars judges from considering whether the country is unsafe.

Lawyers for Mr Cleverly told the High Court that there was no legal reason why any of the questions potentially being raised by the UNHCR should stop a flight on 24 July.

But Mr Justice Chamberlain ruled the agency’s evidence could be important and gave it permission to gather as many facts as possible to present to the court by 28 June.

The judge gave the home secretary until the day after the general election to tell the court what he thinks about the UN’s evidence.