Suella Braverman heads to Rwanda on Friday to reaffirm Britain’s commitment to the controversial £140m plan to deport channel asylum seekers to the East African country.
I I understand that the Secretary of the Interior will meet with his Rwandan government counterparts to discuss controversial proposals, visit facilities including Hope Hostel asylum accommodation in Kigali, and tour programs available to migrants in the country. increase.
Mr Braverman is scheduled to land on Saturday morning and return to the UK on Monday morning.
Almost a year after then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel announced the policy, the policy has become a legal issue with people arriving in Britain across the Channel in small boats. No one has been deported to Rwanda after being caught. .
Next month, an appeals court will rule in the face of “the adequacy of Rwanda’s asylum system” and the “real risk” of being deported to a country where those deported may face persecution or other violations. We will hear your latest challenge as to whether you are about their human rights.
I The government hopes to deport the first group of asylum seekers to Rwanda by the end of the year, or at the latest by spring 2024, pending a decision by the British courts and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) last month. clarified. .
The deal has been widely condemned by Rwandan opposition politicians for violating laws aimed at protecting asylum seekers.
Victoire Ingabire Umhoza said he is chairman of the National Development and Liberty for All Party. I“Rwanda, as a poor developing country, does not have the capacity to support migrant welfare like the UK does. [does]”
Ingabire called on the UK not to send asylum seekers to countries that generate their own rates of refugees, but instead to help bring peace to the region.
The deportation policy is crucial to the success of the ‘stop the ship’ plan launched this month by Mr. Braverman and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
A new asylum law announced by the pair makes nearly all channel asylum seekers eligible for immediate detention and deportation to a safe country.
However, government sources acknowledge that policy depends on the Rwandan scheme to be operational so that it has the capacity to receive people deported from the UK.
Mr Sunak and Mr Braverman said that if the first few planes carried deported asylum seekers to Rwanda, they would have a deterrent effect on those considering crossing the English Channel and would come to Britain on small ships. I would like to abandon the plan.
but I said this month that Patel had received official advice when he was home minister that thousands of people would need to be sent to Rwanda for the policy to have a deterrent effect.
The East African country currently only has the capacity to hold 200 deportees despite the UK paying the country £140m to set up the program, but ministers said the plan ” No upper limit,” and suggested that thousands more could be created.
Sunak had his final meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Monday and promised to “continue working together to ensure the success of this important partnership.”
