Some asylum seekers crossing the Channel to reach the UK illegally will be sent to Rwanda under the government’s new plans to curb human trafficking.
A £120 million trial scheme agreed with the African country will see mostly single men arriving on boats and lorries given a one-way ticket there from UK shores.
The scheme will see Rwanda take responsibility for those who make the journey across the Channel illegally. Rwanda will take over the processing of them and then provide them with long-term accommodation in the country if they are successful in their asylum application.
Any migrants granted right to remain would be entitled to full protection as per local laws, and equal access to employment and healthcare and social care services, the Rwandan government has said.
Prime minister Boris Johnson said that the measure could “over time prove a very considerable deterrent” with the potential to “save countless lives” by preventing the Channel from becoming a “watery graveyard”.
Johnson added that the “humane and compassionate” plan would prevent “vile people smugglers” from sending migrants on to attempt deadly Channel crossings and send a clear message that migrants would be better off attempting to reach the UK in a legal manner.
The plan has been criticised by refugee organisations and opposition MPs, but the PM insisted that with rising cases of illegal crossings, action had to be taken.
He said: “We cannot sustain a parallel illegal system. Our compassion may be infinite, but our capacity to help people is not.”
Indeed, 28,526 is the known figure of individuals who crossed the Channel in small boats over 2021, compared to just 8,404 in 2020.
On Wednesday this week alone, 600 people made the perilous journey, and the PM warned that the figure could reach 1,000 a day soon.
Research carried out by Ipsos Mori indicated that 60 per cent of the British public were unhappy with the current UK policy for processing migrants, with over half of those responses citing illegal Channel crossings as a grievance.
Speaking from Rwanda, UK home secretary Priti Patel said that the new initiative would “change the way we collectively tackle illegal migration”.
Johnson has indicated that the new scheme will not cap the number of migrants that can be moved, and will affect those who arrived illegally in the UK since January 1, 2022, with the trial focusing mainly on single men who the British authorities believe do not satisfy the requirements to remain.
It is expected that legal obstacles and associated costs will need to be overcome for the government to get its plans off the ground, but the Home Office has said it is confident that existing asylum law will satisfy legal requirements. The PM has also claimed that the scheme would fully comply with international law.
Nevertheless, immigration law experts have said that questions need to be answered over the risk factors for migrants and the human rights record of the Rwandan state. Indeed, at the United Nations in 2021, the UK government took issue with “continued restrictions to civil and political rights and media freedom” that were being imposed in the country.
Elsewhere, the prime minister has announced plans to put the Royal Navy in charge of operational control of the Channel to prevent further crossings, with £50 million to be invested in new equipment and specialist staff. Any human trafficking activities will also become punishable with a life sentence in prison.
A new government facility for housing migrants will also be established in North Yorkshire, while any asylum seekers admitted to the UK will be spread more evenly across different regions in terms of accommodation.
Meanwhile, the government is preparing for its Nationality and Borders Bill to come back before the Commons after MPs return from the Easter recess. This comes after a series of amendments were tabled in the House of Lords, including a change about UK powers to expedite asylum claims.
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
