UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman visits Rwanda

• Suella Braverman, the British Home Secretary, visited Rwanda.
• To discuss a contentious arrangement.
• That will see the UK return asylum seekers.

Suella Braverman, the British Home Secretary, came in Rwanda on Saturday to discuss a contentious arrangement that will see the UK return asylum seekers who are thought to have entered the country illegally.

No one has been deported as of yet, but the scheme is beset with legal issues, and Braverman’s visit has drawn criticism because she only invited journalists from right-wing publications to go with her.

Braverman reiterated her commitment to the plan before leaving, saying it will “serve as a major deterrent against dangerous and unlawful journeys,” according to PA.

Omar Daair, the British high commissioner to Rwanda, and Clementine Mukeka, the permanent secretary of the Rwandan foreign ministry, welcomed Braverman when she landed in Kigali.

The visit occurs 11 months after the UK government announced its intention to send tens of thousands of refugees to Rwanda to have their asylum requests reviewed.

The administration argued that the scheme was designed to break up people-smuggling networks and discourage migrants from taking the risky sea crossing from France to England.

The government delayed the plan’s implementation after criticism from NGOs, asylum seekers, and a civil service trade union who questioned the plan’s legality.

Under the plan, the UK would pay Rwanda $145 million (£120 million) over the following five years.

Under this bill, people arriving in the UK “won’t be admissible to have their asylum claim assessed even if they are refugees coming from war torn societies,” said Alexander Betts, Director of the University of Oxford Refugee Studies Center.

Instead, they will face immediate removal either to their country of origin, or a third country, like Rwanda.

But there are concerns that the proposed legislation is illegal.

“When you open up the bill, on the first page there’s a big red flag which says: This might be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights,” Betts told media.

He added that the proposed bill is of “historical significance,” since it amounts to “a liberal, democratic state abandoning the principle of the right to asylum.”

The United Nations Court of Human Rights has warned that the bill, if enacted, would be a “clear breach” of the Refugee Convention.

The bill’s impracticality is another worry.

The Rwandan government has stated that it will only be able to handle 1,000 applications for refuge over the first five years.

In comparison, it is projected that in 2022 alone, 45,755 individuals will have entered the UK using tiny boats that crossed the English Channel.

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