This project, which may apply to all persons illegally entered into the territory, has generated scandalized reactions from human rights organizations.
Le Monde and AFP
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has decided to tighten the United Kingdom’s migration policy, making a decision at least controversial. The United Kingdom announced, Thursday, April 14, to have planned asylum seekers to Rwanda illegally, hoping to dissuade the clandestine crossings from the Channel, which are in full increase.
This project, which may apply to all persons illegally entered in the territory, from wherever they come (Iran, Syria, Eritrea …), sparked scandalized reactions. Human rights organizations have denounced its “inhumanity”. The opposition felt that the Prime Minister was trying to divert attention after the fine he received for a birthday party in confinement.
A project encrypted at 144 million euros.
While Mr. Johnson had promised to control immigration, one of the key topics in the Brexit campaign, the number of illegal crossings of the Channel tripled in 2021, a year marked by the death of twenty-seven people in a shipwreck at the end of November. London regularly reproaches in Paris not to do enough to prevent the crossings.
“From today (…), anyone illegally entering the United Kingdom as well as those who have arrived illegally since the 1 January will now be transferred to Rwanda,” announced the conservative leader in a speech in Kent (south-east of England). Rwanda can accommodate “tens of thousands of people in the coming years,” he added, describing this East African country as one of the “safest in the world, worldwide recognized for his Reception and integration of migrants “.
Under the Agreement announced Thursday, London will initially fund the device of 144 million euros. The Rwandan government stated that it would propose the possibility “to settle permanently in Rwanda [to these people if they wish.”.
Nearby to regain popularity before local elections next month, Mr. Johnson and his government have been looking for months to conclude agreements with third countries where to send clandestines while waiting to process their file. The control of the handle entrusted to the Navy
“Our compassion is perhaps infinite, but our ability to help people is not,” Johnson said, who anticipates legal action against the device. “Those who try to cut the queue or to abuse our system will not have an automatic track to settle in our country but will be returned quickly and humanely into a safe third country or country. Origin, “he added.
Migrants arriving in the United Kingdom will no longer be hosted in hotels, but in reception centers, like those who exist in Greece, with a first center “opening soon,” announced Mr. Johnson.
As part of this plan, which complements a broad immigration law currently in Parliament and already criticized by the United Nations (UN), the government entrusts Thursday the control of the illegal crossings of the Channel in the Navy, equipped with additional equipment. On the other hand, he gave up his project to repel the boats entering the British waters, a measure decried French side.
The scandalized NGOs
By sending asylum seekers to more than 6,000 kilometers from the United Kingdom, London wants to discourage candidates for immigration, more numerous: 28,500 people performed these perilous crossing in 2021, compared with 8,466 in 2020, according to numbers of the Ministry of the Interior.
Amnesty International has criticized “a scandalously poorly designed idea” that “will hurt while wasting huge amounts of public money”, also highlighting Rwanda’s “lamentable human rights assessment”.
Daniel Sohege, Director of the Human Rights Organization Stand for All, told the France-Presse Agency that the Government’s initiative was “inhuman, unrealizable and very expensive”, recommending rather to open entrance routes to the UK “safer” because those that exist are “very limited”.