Rwanda has labelled the United Nations refugee agency as liar, after the organisation informed a British court this week that asylum seekers deported to Rwanda in the initial agreement between UK and the East African country could face further deportation to other countries – could face abuses and all forms of degradations.
Rwanda lept to the defence of UK probably due to the incentives they would get from such agreement.
Asylum seekers are already on the run in the UK since the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made the announcement.
No ship or plane carrying asylum seekers has left UK since the announcement.
The plan to deport refugees to the African country is seriously being challenged in court, and the conundrum is expected to be settled by the court.
Rwanda is obviously opposing the argument of the United Nations Refugee Agency which is against the deportation- to help UK win the case before the court.
UK general election is coming up on 4th of July and there is a significant chance for the UK Labour Party to win. Should Labour Party win, the deportation may be scrapped.
Conservative Party which has ruled the country for more than a decade will go on with the policy of refugees deportation.
A pronouncement Rishi Sunak has made, despite criticisms and legal battle facing the policy.
Immigration has become a significant challenge for Europe in recent time. The rate of migrants making it to Europe is alarming, despite strict border rules.
UK tends to deport asylum seekers back to Rwanda, despite knowing most of the asylum seekers are from Africa.
Critics say the deportation policy is a deliberate plan to stop migrants as law prohibits rejection of asylum seekers.
Lawyers representing the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday argued Rwanda’s asylum system lacks the adequate policies and policing to welcome deported asylum seekers. Saying that it would amount to hurting asylum seekers, and it was upon that reasoning the plan was ruled unlawful before.
Also they argued the policy risked asylum seekers facing a banned process known as refoulement.
“UNHCR is lying,” the Rwandan government said in a statement, insisting that the allegations are “wholly unserious”.
Rwanda went further to questioning the sanity of those that accuse Kigali of poor treatment of asylum seekers, but still meet them to fashion a way to receive migrants on their behalf from Libya.
Kigali is adamant that the asylum seekers would be wholly welcomed and cared for in Rwanda, against what UN Refugee Agency is saying.
“The organisation seems intent on presenting fabricated allegations to UK courts about Rwanda’s treatment of asylum seekers, while still partnering with us to bring African migrants from Libya to safety in Rwanda.”
The latest hearing in the United Kingdom – where the UNHCR is determined to intervene and stop the planned deportation, follows the same path with FDA trade union standing for civil servants, who brought a legal battle that was adjudicated on 6 of June on the same deportation plan. Judgement is being waited.
UN agency said it is deeply concerned about the safety of the asylum seekers being deported to Rwanda.
UK aims to discourage migrants from their country with legal deportation back to Rwanda, likely the same place they came from.
“UNHCR … finds that the UK-Rwanda Asylum partnership shifts responsibility for making asylum decisions and for protecting refugees,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.
