- Boris Johnson's plan to send asylum seekers 4,000 miles to Rwanda is ILLEGAL, says UN: Refugee Agency -

The United Kingdom has introduced a new scheme, an evil scheme to send the “unwanted asylum-seekers” to Rwanda; a scheme Britain's home secretary has proudly described as a world-first plan which will make the immigration system fairer. The Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson called it an innovative approach driven by shared humanitarian impulse. However, this plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has been slammed as an 'egregious breach of international law' and 'really unacceptable' by the United Nations Refugee Agency. 

Last Thursday, Priti Patel, Britain’s Home Secretary signed a new agreement on migration with Rwanda’s Foreign Minister in Rwanda’s capital. This agreement is to transport UK Asylum seekers by a ship or flight to Rwanda a country located 4000 miles away in Central Africa. When they reach Rwanda, the Rwandan government will decide under their law whether the migrants get to stay or leave. Even if the Migrants are given the Asylum in Rwanda, they will only be able to stay just for five years. After that, they need to find a home somewhere else in the world. 

The UK has every right to deport illegal immigrants but sending asylum seekers to one of the world's poorest countries with one of the worst records on human rights violations is simply cruel. Britain's opposition party, the human rights groups, including the United Nations have strongly condemned the scheme and called it an inhumane, disgraceful, cruel, and repellent act of the British Government. 

Keir Stramer, the labour party leader, has called the plan “extortionate and unworkable”. He says, “not only will it ruin the lives of asylum seekers but will also cost British taxpayers billions of pounds”. Jeremy Corbyn, the former labour leader says the plan is “shameful and beyond cruel”. They have both described it as a political tool to distract the British citizens from the country's current political mess. 

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said “It is an unworkable, unethical, and extortionate policy that would cost the UK taxpayer billions of pounds during a cost of living crisis and would make it harder not easier to get fast and fair asylum decisions.”

UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs says "People fleeing war, conflict, and persecution deserve compassion and empathy. They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing.” The UN  has also warned the UK that such a deal will only magnify risks causing refugees to seek alternatives and unsafe routes. 

A number of human rights activists have also spoken and have drawn parallels between the UK's plan and a similar plan that was drawn out by Australia. They say such schemes only inflict huge amounts of cruelty on the migrants rather than rehabilitating them. 

''We have years of evidence from Australia about precisely this policy measure, which has done nothing to stop people coming to Australia seeking asylum has inflicted a huge amount of cruelty on a natively small number of people, basically imprisoned for years and years on islands in the south pacific and all at enormous cost to the Australian taxpayers''. 

Lewis Mudge, Human Rights Watch’s Central Africa director said “Rwanda did not respect some of the most fundamental human rights. Refugees have been abused in Rwanda and the government has, at times, kidnapped Rwandan refugees outside the country to bring them home to face trial and ill-treatment," 

Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, told the BBC Radio “The government is choosing control and punishment above compassion despite the fact its own data shows that two-thirds of men, women, and children arriving in small boats come from countries where war and persecution have forced them from their homes. We urge this government to immediately rethink its plans which are in such stark contrast to what every Conservative prime minister since Churchill has sought to do by providing a fair hearing on British soil for those who claim asylum” 

Azmina Siddique of the Children's Society added “We are particularly worried about children who could be mistakenly assessed as adults".

The Rt Revd Paul Butler, the Bishop of Durham said “Asylum seekers who arrive on our shores are our international responsibility and should be dealt with in our own land with the human dignity to which they are entitled. There are many questions about the parameters of any offshoring proposal that remain unanswered, including the financial cost, but primarily around the question of dignity.”

Ambihai K Selvakumar, Executive Director of the International Centre for Prevention and Prosecution of Genocide (ICPPG) said “Rwanda has decades of ethnic and political tensions that culminated in the 1994 Genocide in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi, Hutus and Twa were killed. Arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities are commonplace, and fair trial standards are flouted in many cases. Many asylum seekers were forced to flee from such situations in their own countries. They should not be forced to go to a country where the same violations exist. For example, the Tamils from Sri Lanka are forced to flee as they suffer ongoing Genocide, torture, and sexual abuse. They can't even imagine being sent back to another country where they could face the same horror again”. 

Geeth Kulasegaram, a senior legal advisor representing most vulnerable asylum seekers, said “Most asylum seekers are victims of torture and/or sexual abuse. They suffer significant mental health issues including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is very unlikely that they would receive adequate psychiatric treatments in Rwanda. The fear of being removed to Rwanda has already triggered their suicidal ideation and many Tamils have started to contemplate suicide as they feel they have no strength to suffer and face another ordeal which is very concerning. This plan is also very likely to force many asylum seekers to drop their cases and go underground to remain illegal rather than making attempts to regulate their stay in the UK, due to fear”. 

Despite the criticism, Boris Johnson’s government remains unrelenting. It says it has already paid the rival government 158 million dollars upfront. What is this money meant for? Is it going to be used to pay for said housing and integration of the migrants? How is the British government going to ensure the migrants will be treated fairly? 

Rwanda's record on human rights is abysmal and one does not have to look far to find evidence. The UK has condemned Rwanda on numerous occasions. January 2021, the UK's director-general for Europe told the UNHRC that his country remains concerned about Rwanda's continued restrictions on civil and political rights. Then in July 2021, UK's international ambassador for human rights appeared before the same body and expressed regret that Rwanda was not conducting a transparent and credible probe into allegations of human rights violations. The same UK now expects Rwanda to rehabilitate refugees. There could not be a better example of British hypocrisy. 

This should be stopped immediately before costing the innocent lives of poor asylum seekers in various parts of the world. 

We sign this petition to oppose this inhuman, cruel scheme and demand the British government withdraw the same with immediate effect.