UK signs deal with Kigali to send asylum seekers to Rwanda

Published on: 04/14/2022 – 12:02 Rwanda has signed a controversial agreement with London to welcome migrants and asylum seekers of various nationalities from the United Kingdom to its soil, Kigali announced Thursday on the occasion of a visit by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel. Asylum seekers arriving in the UK will be sent to Rwanda, according to a controversial agreement announced Thursday April 14 with which the government of Boris Johnson hopes to deter illegal crossings of the Channel which have reached records. outraged reactions, human rights organizations denouncing his “inhumanity”, while the opposition judged that the British Prime Minister was trying to divert attention after being fined for a birthday party in full confinement. So that the Conservative leader had promised to control immigration, a key subject of the Brexit campaign, the number of illegal immigrants crossing the Channel has tripled in 2021. Eager to regain popularity, 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. Interior, Priti Patel “Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to welcome asylum seekers and migrants, and offer them legal avenues to live” in the East African country, said Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said in a statement. London will initially fund the scheme to the tune of 120 million pounds sterling (144 million euros). of 6,000 kilometers from the United Kingdom aims to discourage candidates leaving for the United Kingdom, who are always more numerous: 28,500 people made these perilous crossings in 2021, compared to 8,466 in 2020… and only 299 in 2018, according to figures from the ministry e of the Interior. But human rights activists have denounced this policy deemed “scandalous” and “barbaric”.>> To read also: “Calais in shock after the deadliest sinking of migrants ever known in the Channel” 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 “dismal human rights record” of the African nation. For the director general of Refugee Action, Tim Naor Hilton, it is a “cowardly, barbaric and inhuman way to treat people fleeing persecution and war”. political, the opposition also denounced the “inhumanity” of the project. Even within the Conservative ranks, criticism has flared, with MP Tobias Ellwood saying on the BBC that it is a “huge attempt to distract attention” from Boris Johnson’s “Partygate” setbacks. controversial lawThe British Parliament is also about to adopt a law which could authorize the creation of centers abroad to deport migrants while their application is processed or even authorize the coastguards to push back out of British waters migrant boats. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), this law, if adopted, would contradict the Geneva Convention for Refugees, which the United Kingdom has signed. The announcement of these The new measures come as the Prime Minister is struggling after he was fined for breaking Covid-19 rules by attending a rally to celebrate his 56th birthday in Downing Street. The Conservative leader r is trying to bounce back before local elections in May which will be a test for his Conservative Party. With AFP