Speaking at a joint news conference in the Rwandan capital’s Kigali on Thursday, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said people relocating to Rwanda “would be given support that includes up to five years of education, integration, residency, health care”. Patel also called the plan a “joint new Immigration and Economic Development Partnership”, saying the United Kingdom was “making significant investments in Rwanda’s economic development”. Patel insisted the deal was aimed at improving the UK’s asylum system, which it said had dealt with “a combination of genuine humanitarian crises and bad traffickers who exploit the system for their own gain”. When asked by a reporter what the criteria would be for relocation, Patel said: “We are very clear that anyone entering the UK illegally will be considered for resettlement and transfer to Rwanda, I will not reveal specific criteria for a number of reasons.” Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said Rwanda was pleased to work with the UK. Asked if Rwanda has the infrastructure to accommodate the influx, Biruta said the country has the capacity to accept migrants and will invest in new infrastructure for educating and housing migrants with UK support. Biruta added that the program will only be for asylum seekers in the UK who are in the UK, and that they would prefer not to accept people from immediate neighbors such as the DRC, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania.
“They trade like commodities”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has 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 exchanged for goods and transported abroad for processing,” said the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees. “The UNHCR remains strongly opposed to regulations seeking the transfer of refugees and asylum seekers to third countries in the absence of adequate guarantees and standards. Such arrangements merely shift responsibilities for asylum, “Refugee Convention,” said Triggs. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also said the plan would increase the risks and force refugees to seek alternative routes, putting more pressure on front-line countries. “Experience shows that these agreements are usually very expensive. They often violate international law. They do not lead to solutions, but to extended detention or more smuggling,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Larry Botinick told British radio station Times Radio. Thursday. The Human Rights Watch strongly criticized the plan, issuing a strong statement. “Rwanda’s horrific human rights record is well documented,” he said. “Rwanda has a well-known history of extrajudicial killings, suspected deaths in custody, unlawful or arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, targeting critics and dissidents alike. “At a time when the people of the United Kingdom are opening their hearts and homes to Ukrainians, the government is choosing to act harshly and tear down its obligations to others fleeing war and persecution.” Amnesty International’s Director of Refugee and Immigrant Rights, Steve Valdez-Simonts, described the plan as “shockingly ill-conceived”. “Sending people to another country – let alone one with such a sad human rights record – for ‘processing’ asylum is the culmination of irresponsibility and shows how far from humanity and reality the government is now in asylum matters. “, Said Valdez. – Simonts said in a statement. As part of the new plan, the British Royal Navy will take over operational command from the Border Force in the English Channel “with the aim of preventing any vessels from reaching the UK unnoticed,” Johnson said. It also allows British authorities to prosecute those arriving illegally, “with life imprisonment for anyone who pilots the boats,” he said. The English Channel, a narrow waterway between Britain and France, is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Refugees and migrants fleeing conflict, persecution and poverty in the world’s poorest or war-torn countries are at risk of dangerous crossings, often in boats unsuitable for travel and at the mercy of smugglers, hoping to seek refuge opportunities in Britain. Last November, 27 people drowned in bitter cold waters off the coast of France after an inflatable boat carrying migrants to Britain capsized in one of the deadliest incidents in the Channel in recent years. CNN’s Kara Fox and Helen Regan contributed to this report.
