UK wants to send asylum seekers to Rwanda to discourage illegal immigrants
Britain's Home Secretary Priti Patel (l) and Rwanda's Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Vincent Biruta shake hands after signing an agreement at the Kigali Convention Centre, Kigali, Rwanda, April 14, 2022. A deal has finally been announced with Rwanda, where British Home Secretary Priti Patel has visited.
Asylum seekers arriving in the UK will be sent to Rwanda, under a controversial deal announced on Thursday with which Boris Johnson's government hopes to deter record illegal Channel crossings.
AFP - SIMON WOHLFAHRT
Text by: RFI Follow
4 mins
At the end of a multi-million dollar agreement with London, Rwanda agreed to welcome on its soil migrants and asylum seekers of various nationalities sent from the United Kingdom.
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"
From today, anyone entering the United Kingdom illegally, as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1, can now be relocated to Rwanda,
" British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Thursday.
“
Our compassion may be endless, but our ability to help people is not
,” he adds from the port city of Dover.
Concretely, anyone who arrived illegally in the United Kingdom and wants to apply for asylum will be sent to Rwanda, where they will be accommodated while their application is examined, explains
Alexandra Brangeon
, journalist in the Africa service of RFI.
While the Conservative leader had promised to control immigration, a key issue in the Brexit campaign, the number of illegal immigrants crossing the Channel has tripled in the past year, from 8,466 in 2020 to 28,500 people in 2021. 2018, only 299 people made the perilous crossing in 2018.
►
To read also: In 2021, the number of people who crossed the Channel to reach the United Kingdom tripled
"
Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to welcome asylum seekers and migrants, and offer them legal avenues to live
" in this East African country, the minister said in a statement. Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta.
The agreement with Rwanda, which will be financed by the United Kingdom to the tune of 120 million pounds (144 million EUR), provides that migrants - whose nationalities or conditions of arrival are not specified - are "
integrated into communities across the country
,” according to the statement released by Kigali.
“
It's about making sure that people are protected, respected and that they can achieve their own ambitions and settle permanently in Rwanda if they wish
,” adds Vincent Biruta.
🇷🇼🇬🇧 Min @Vbiruta and @pritipatel, the UK Home Secretary, announced and signed a “Migration and Economic Development Partnership between #Rwanda and the UK”. This partnership prioritizes the dignity and rights of migrants pic.twitter.com/PZ6FfqgxRC
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Int'l Cooperation (@RwandaMFA) April 14, 2022
Eager to regain popularity and seduce his voters, Boris Johnson and his government have been seeking for months to conclude agreements with third countries where to send migrants while waiting to process their file.
Mentioned, Ghana firmly denied in January being in discussion with the United Kingdom on the subject.
►
To read also:
Shipwreck of migrants: the Channel, a new "open-air marine cemetery"?
A controversial decision
The details of the agreement, however, still remain unclear.
Does it concern all migrants, including asylum seekers, or only those from the African continent?
During a press conference this morning, the Rwandan authorities mentioned quotas, without giving more details for the moment.
Sending asylum seekers more than 6,000 kilometers from the United Kingdom aims to discourage applicants from leaving for the United Kingdom, which is still increasing in number.
But human rights activists have denounced this policy as "
scandalous
" and "
barbaric
".
A “
dismal human rights record
”
Steve Valdez-Symonds, director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International UK, denounced "a scandalously ill-conceived idea" which "
will cause suffering while wasting enormous sums of public money
", also pointing out the
Rwanda's
"
dismal human rights record ".
For the director general of Refugee Action, Tim Naor Hilton, it is a “
cowardly, barbaric and inhumane way of treating people fleeing persecution and war
”.
►
To read also: Rwanda: Kigali responds to criticism of human rights
On the political side, the British opposition also denounced
the “inhumanity
” of the project.
Even within the Conservative ranks, criticism has flared, MP Tobias Ellwood believing that it is a "huge attempt to divert attention" from Boris Johnson's setbacks in "
Partygate
".
The British Parliament is also about to adopt a law which could authorize the creation of centers abroad to deport migrants while their applications are being processed or even authorize the coast guard to push migrants out of British waters. migrant boats.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), this law, if adopted, would contradict the Geneva Convention for Refugees, to which the United Kingdom is a signatory.
(With AFP)
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