The Rwandan government has launched legal action against the UK to seek payments it claims it is owed under a scrapped migrant deal between the two countries.

Rwanda has filed a case with the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, arguing the UK has failed to honour commitments made in a deal to send some asylum seekers to the African nation.

Under the deal, which was signed by the previous Conservative government, the UK agreed to make payments to Rwanda to host asylum seekers and support its economy.

But after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer axed the deal in 2024, the Home Office said Ksh38.9 billion in scheduled future payments would not have to be paid to Rwanda.

The BBC has asked the Home Office for comment.

The prime minister’s spokesman said the government would “robustly defend our position to protect British taxpayers”.

“The Rwanda scheme was a complete disaster,” the spokesman told reporters. “It wasted Ksh123.8 billion of taxpayer cash to return just four volunteers.”

The Rwandan government has not responded to the BBC’s requests for comment. But the country’s ministry of foreign affairs pointed the BBC to an article about the arbitration proceedings in the New Times, a Rwandan newspaper.

The article says the arbitration “concerns the performance of specific commitments under the treaty”.

The previous Conservative government spent about Ksh123.8 billion on the Rwanda policy, which was intended to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Only four volunteers arrived in Rwanda when the deal was in force, and Sir Keir said the plan was “dead and buried” shortly after Labour won the 2024 general election.

The deal included a break clause, which stated that “each party may terminate this agreement by giving notice to the other party in writing”.

The Ksh123.8 billion spent included Ksh51.3 billion in payments to Rwanda.

In December 2024, the Home Office said a further Ksh17.7 billion would have been due under the treaty, split evenly as Ksh 8.84 billion for each of the 2025–26 and 2026–27 financial years.

In addition, the Home Office agreed to pay Ksh21.2 billion upon the transfer of 300 people to Rwanda.

The New Times article quotes a government adviser as saying Rwanda had “engaged in diplomatic exchanges before initiating arbitration”.

Michael Butera, chief technical adviser to Rwanda’s minister of justice, told the newspaper: “Through arbitration, Rwanda seeks a legal determination of the parties’ respective rights and obligations under the treaty, in accordance with international law.”

In the treaty signed by Rwanda and the UK, both countries agreed that any dispute that could not be settled between them would be referred to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).

The PCA, headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, is a forum for resolving international disputes between states and has the power to issue binding, final rulings.

Rwanda began arbitration proceedings under the asylum partnership agreement in November, according to the PCA’s website, which lists the case as pending.

The arbitration body has not indicated when the complaint will be heard. Such cases often take years to resolve.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp described the legal action as “yet another catastrophic consequence of Labour’s decision to scrap the Rwanda scheme before it even started”.

“This legal action means the British taxpayer is now facing a huge bill for Labour’s weakness and incompetence,” Philp said.

The UK government has previously said it was examining what money could be recovered after scrapping the scheme, but Rwanda has insisted it is under “no obligation” to refund any funds.