Asylum seekers in the United Kingdom will be driven 4,500 miles to Rwanda as part of a government crackdown on unauthorized migrants announced by Boris Johnson.
The Prime Minister is expected to announce a number of measures, including the appointment of the fleet to be in charge of Channel’s operations on Friday and a new reception center to detain people trying to enter the UK to help end the practice of accommodation. asylum seekers in hotels.
Priti Patel, the interior minister, traveled to the Central African country on Wednesday after finalizing the “Partnership on Migration and Economic Development”.
The initiative comes as Johnson prepares to unveil additional plans Thursday to crack down on the business model of human smuggling gangs and increase operations in the UK in the English Channel.
Referring to the vote in the UK referendum on leaving the EU, he would say: “We cannot maintain a parallel illegal system. Our compassion may be infinite, but our ability to help people is not.
“The British have voted several times to control our borders. Not to close them, but to control them. “
The deal with Rwanda, which will reportedly cost an initial £ 120m, was followed by three years of promises by Patel to outsource the asylum to third countries and a failure to conclude deals with Albania and Ghana.
Understandably, the deal – described as “inoperable and unethical” by Labor – would mean that asylum seekers in the UK would face the possibility of being taken to a camp in Rwanda.
It is reported that their applications for asylum for migrants will be processed in the East African country and will be encouraged to settle there. The Times said the move would only apply to migrant men.
Statement No. 10 reads: “The Minister of the Interior will provide further details on the world’s first partnership for migration and economic development, signed by the Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel, with Rwanda, one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Africa, which is recognized worldwide for its record for welcoming and integrating migrants.
According to a 2020 report by Human Rights Watch, detainees in the country suffer from arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and torture in formal and informal settings.
The government has not yet explained whether a camp where asylum seekers are interned will be under UK jurisdiction or how the UK government will seek to monitor the well-being of migrants.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow interior minister, said Rwanda’s proposal was a “shameful message” aimed at diverting attention from the recent violation of the law by Boris Johnson. “This is an inefficient, unethical and blackmailing policy that would cost taxpayers in the UK billions of pounds during the cost of living crisis and make it harder, not easier, to make quick and fair asylum decisions,” she said.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said it was waiting to see the bilateral agreement, but expressed concern about plans to send asylum seekers abroad.
“UNHCR does not support the transfer of responsibilities to asylum-seeking countries. This includes measures taken by states to transfer asylum seekers and refugees to other countries with insufficient guarantees to protect their rights, or when this leads to relocation rather than sharing responsibilities for refugee protection, “a spokesman said.
In response to the government’s planned crackdown, Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the government wanted to criminalize people for taking the wrong path to security by reaching the United Kingdom.
“The government chooses control and punishment over compassion, despite the fact that its own figures show that two-thirds of men, women and children arriving in small boats come from countries where war and persecution have forced them to flee their homes.
“We call on this government to immediately rethink its plans, which are in stark contrast to what every Conservative prime minister since Churchill has sought to do by ensuring a fair hearing on British soil for asylum seekers,” he said.
The first reception center, modeled on the Greek practice, will be a former RAF base in Linton-on-Oz, North Yorkshire. The councils will also receive additional funding to disperse poor migrants.
The government has so far failed to pass the necessary legislation to put so-called offshoring in the statutes. The bill on nationality and borders, which will allow asylum seekers to be processed abroad, has not yet received royal consent.
The Rev. Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham, who proposed amendments to the bill, said: “Asylum seekers arriving on our shores are our international responsibility and must be treated in our own land with the human dignity to which they are entitled.
“There are many questions about the parameters of each offshore proposal that remain unanswered, including financial costs, but above all about the issue of dignity.
Denmark has previously signed an agreement with the Rwandan government to accept recent migrants. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the two countries last summer, but it remains unclear whether the Danish government has sent anyone to Rwanda so far.
Patel-led ministers have seen Australian-style offshore processing centers – to which migrants will be taken within seven days of arriving in the UK – as a key potential deterrent to halting record growth in the English Channel.
Last month, she enlisted former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to inspect the country’s border forces, weeks after he called on the UK to take a firm stand on migrant ships.
Last year, Australian government figures showed that the country had spent £ 461 million on 239 refugees and asylum seekers held offshore.
More than 4,600 people have arrived in the UK in small boats since the beginning of the year, according to data collected by the PA news agency.
On Wednesday, women and young children were among the passengers on several boats with people crossing the English Channel.
People in life jackets and blankets have been spotted arriving in Dover on border force ships, as well as in Dungeness aboard the RNLI lifeboat.
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