Distributing mobility: regressive asylum agreements and racialised difference

In AAA (Syria) and others, the United Kingdom Supreme Court found the migration agreement, under which the UK could forcibly transfer asylum-seekers to Rwanda, to be unlawful. The decision was met with widespread legal approval for upholding the international principle of non-refoulement. However, this paper argues that both the agreement and the judicial review of its legality relied on a deep racialisation of Rwanda, while leaving open the possibility for future regressive safe third country agreements.