At a press conference, Boris Johnson reports on his plans with the Rwandan government.
(Photo: dpa)
London Refugees trying to enter Britain illegally via the English Channel will soon be flown to Rwanda, around seven thousand kilometers away, in order to be able to apply for asylum there.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks of the “world’s first partnership to tackle the global migration crisis” and assumes that this could result in “tens of thousands” of economic refugees being resettled in the coming years. At the same time, by changing the subject, he is giving himself some breathing room domestically after the prime minister came under renewed pressure to resign as a result of the “Partygate” affair.
It is also no coincidence that Johnson brought the emotionally charged issue of immigration to the fore a few weeks before the local elections on May 5. The conservatives hope to score points with the voters with the deportation procedure.
Human rights activists from the British aid organization Refugee Action, on the other hand, branded the deportation of the refugees as “inhuman and barbaric”. Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International’s UK refugee director, called it a “shockingly ill-conceived idea”.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
With the plan, London is following the Australian government’s controversial procedure, which has been bringing boat people to camps on islands off the coast of the subcontinent since 2012. “Our compassion may be infinite, but our ability to help people is not,” Johnson said.
According to government figures in London, more than 28,000 refugees landed in Britain in small boats last year.
(Photo: AP)
In exchange for Rwanda taking in the refugees, Britain will invest £120 million (€144 million) in the economic development of the Central African country. “Rwanda is committed to international cooperation and partnership on migration,” said Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta in Kigali.
£4.7million per day accommodation costs
British Home Secretary Priti Patel sealed the deal there. “The global migration crisis and the way we fight illegal migration require new, world-leading solutions,” said the politician, who was controversial because of her harsh immigration policies. She put the cost of accommodating the illegal refugees in British hotels at £4.7 million a day.
According to government figures in London, more than 28,000 refugees landed in Britain in small boats last year. 27 people drowned when a refugee boat capsized in the English Channel in November.
“Seven out of 10 people arriving in small boats last year were men under 40” brought into the country illegally by smugglers, Johnson said. London and Paris passed the buck to each other for the refugee crisis in the English Channel.
Johnson wants to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda
Rwanda is one of the safest countries in the world and has the fourth fastest economic growth globally, stressed the British Prime Minister. However, the country has been led by authoritarian President Paul Kagame for more than 20 years.
As recently as last summer, the British Ambassador for Human Rights, Rita French, criticized Rwanda for not taking Kagame’s allegations of human rights abuses seriously enough.
More on this: All of Europe welcomes refugees from Ukraine – only Great Britain is a fortress.