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- Rwanda said 30 years of hard work have made it a safe destination, as it is now officially declared in the UK.
- The UK has 25 courtrooms with 200 caseworkers to speed up deportation cases.
- Hundreds of escorts have been trained to accompany those who cross from France in small boats to Rwanda.
The Rwandan government says it is safe and ready to receive deportees from Britain, and the passage of the fraught Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill is testament to that.
That bill passed through the UK Parliament late on Monday night despite pushback from the House of Lords. It legally declares Rwanda a safe destination, precluding UK judges from barring deportations on the basis that those sent to Rwanda could be at risk.
The UK now expects to be flying people who cross from France in small boats to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks.
Rwanda government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told News24 that the UK deal came on the back of a long-term vision, and the work that had gone into implementing it.
"We are pleased that the Bill has been passed by the UK Parliament. However, it doesn't alter what we have always known to be true: we have worked hard over the last 30 years to make Rwanda a safe and secure country for Rwandans and non-Rwandans alike," she said.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), by 2021, Rwanda was home to more than 127 000 refugees, mainly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Burundi.
Both the DRC and Burundi accuse Rwanda of working with rebels operating in their countries to destabilise their governments.
READ | Flights booked, first Rwanda deportations within 12 weeks, Sunak vows
In 2019, Rwanda established the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) Centre, which hosted 824 refugees evacuated from Libya.
Rwanda is ready to receive the UK's asylum seekers, Makolo said, as it is ready to help those who flee African countries.
"This is why we can offer safety to the over 130 000 refugees already in Rwanda, and why we partner with the UNHCR to bring migrants stuck in Libya to safety in our country.
"We are committed to the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with the UK and look forward to welcoming those relocated to Rwanda," she added.
In a post on X, former UK Home Secretary Priti Pate said: "Political opponents and activists have made unfounded smears and deliberately frustrated our efforts to control our borders, stop small boat crossings and save human life from being put at risk.
She said:
In a statement, UK Home Secretary James Cleverly boasted that "we can now proceed with our Rwanda plan and begin removing people with no right to be here".
With the law now passed, the UK said it had put in place everything necessary to start the process. It has an airfield on standby and commercial charter planes booked for specific slots, 2 200 extra detention spaces and 200 dedicated caseworkers trained and ready to quickly process claims.
It has also added 25 courtrooms to quickly deal with challenges, and 500 escorts already trained to accompany deportees to Rwanda, with 300 more due to complete training in coming weeks.
Don't do it, UN commissioner says
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, think the deal between Rwanda and the UK is a bad idea.
On Tuesday, they argued the plan would not stop boats from crossing the English Channel, and that it did not consider international human rights law.
"The new legislation marks a further step away from the UK's long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the Refugee Convention.
"Protecting refugees requires all countries – not just those neighbouring crisis zones – to uphold their obligations. This arrangement seeks to shift responsibility for refugee protection, undermining international cooperation and setting a worrying global precedent," said Grandi.
Türk added: "By shifting responsibility for refugees, reducing the UK's courts' ability to scrutinise removal decisions, restricting access to legal remedies in the UK and limiting the scope of domestic and international human rights protections for a specific group of people, this new legislation seriously hinders the rule of law in the UK and sets a perilous precedent globally."
READ | England-Rwanda migrant plan passes after marathon UK parliament session
Michael O'Flaherty, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights said the adoption of the Bil "raises major issues about the human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law more generally".
"The United Kingdom government should refrain from removing people under the Rwanda policy and reverse the Bill's effective infringement of judicial independence."
A group of UN experts said airlines should be held responsible if they assist in the removal of asylum seekers from the UK.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
