Critics slam the Rwanda-UK migration deal as unethical and unworkable but UK PM Johnson Boris says it will ‘save lives’ and disrupt people-smuggling.
“From today … anyone entering the UK illegally as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1 may now be relocated to Rwanda,” Johnson said in a speech on Thursday morning near Dover, in southeastern England, where thousands of refugees and migrants landed on beaches after crossing the English Channel in small boats last year.
Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said Kigali welcomed the partnership with London, adding it would offer “asylum seekers and migrants … legal pathways to residence” in the country.
But critics, including opposition politicians and refugee organisations, have warned the plan is unethical, unworkable and overly expensive. They have also raised concerns over Rwanda’s human rights record.
Opposition Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer slammed the move, calling it “a desperate announcement by a prime minister who just wants to distract from his own law breaking” – a nod to the renewed pressure Johnson is facing after being fined by police for breaking COVID-19 lockdown rules in June 2020.
“They reflect a prime minister who has got no grip, no answers to the questions that need answering and no shame, and I think Britain deserves better than this,” Starmer said.
The UK branch of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) warned agreements of the sort struck with Rwanda were often “eye-wateringly expensive, often violate international law, lead to the use of widespread detention [and] lead to more smuggling, not less.”
“With this deal the UK is looking to shift its responsibilities towards refugees, not share them,” it said.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the UK-based charity Refugee Council, also slammed the move, calling it a “cruel and nasty decision” and predicting it would not stop people-smuggling gangs.
“Sending people seeking asylum to be processed abroad will do absolutely nothing to address the reasons why people take perilous journeys to find safety in the UK,” Solomon said in a statement.
“Instead, the Government should focus on operating an orderly, humane and fair asylum system, and developing safe routes such as humanitarian visas, rather than harming lives and destroying our reputation as a country which values human rights,” he added.
‘Traded like commodities’
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) expressed “strong opposition and concerns” about the plan and urged both countries to reconsider.
“People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy. They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing,” UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Gillian Triggs said in a statement.
“UNHCR remains firmly opposed to arrangements that seek to transfer refugees and asylum-seekers to third countries in the absence of sufficient safeguards and standards. Such arrangements simply shift asylum responsibilities, evade international obligations, and are contrary to the letter and spirit of the Refugee Convention,” Triggs said.
UNHCR also said that the plan would increase risks and cause refugees to look for alternative routes, putting more pressure on front line states.
“Experience shows that these agreements are eye-wateringly expensive usually. They often violate international law. They don’t lead to solutions, rather to widespread detention or to more smuggling,” UNHCR Senior legal officer Larry Bottinick told British radio station Times Radio on Thursday.
Human Rights Watch was fiercely critical of the plan, issuing a strongly-worded statement.
Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director Steve Valdez-Symonds described the plan as “shockingly ill-conceived.”
“Sending people to another country — let alone one with such a dismal human rights record — for asylum ‘processing’ is the very height of irresponsibility and shows how far removed from humanity and reality the Government now is on asylum issues,” Valdez-Symonds said in a statement.
As part of the new plan, the British Royal Navy will take over operational command from Border Force in the English Channel “with the aim that no boat makes it to the UK undetected,” Johnson said.
However, “In relation to the infrastructure aspect of the programme; when we were discussing this partnership, we assessed our capacity to receive immigrants, & we know that we have the capacity in place to host immigrants but we’re also investing in new infrastructure” -Minister Biruta assured in a press conference in Kigali on Thursday.
Meanwhile, it is expected a yet to know number, gender of immigrants will be sent to Rwanda.
