UK Slammed over 'Unworkable' Deal on Flying Asylum Seekers to Rwanda
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The UK will send asylum seekers to off-shore processing centers in the East African nation of Rwanda as part of the government's new plan to tackle soaring numbers of illegal immigrants being trafficked across the English Channel from mainland Europe.
The blueprint is due to be unveiled by Prime Minister Boris Johnson later on Thursday, before Home Secretary Priti Patel signs a five-year agreement for a "migration and economic development partnership" in Rwanda's capital Kigali.
The deal is said to initially cost British taxpayers a whopping £120 million ($158 million), with critics claiming that the annual cost of the full scheme will be far higher, Sputnik reported.
The Times reported that under the accord, people seeking asylum in the UK will face the possibility of being flown to a camp in Rwanda, about 4,000 miles from Britain.
The deal reportedly stipulates that migrants will have their asylum claims processed in Rwanda and they will be encouraged to settle there, something that is purportedly related to male refugees only.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper slammed the Rwanda deal as a "shameful announcement meant to distract from Boris Johnson's recent law-breaking" in reference to alleged Downing Street parties during COVID lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.
"It is an unworkable, unethical, and extortionate policy that would cost the UK taxpayer billions of pounds during a cost of living crisis and would make it harder not easier to get fast and fair asylum decisions", Cooper said referring to the Rwanda scheme.
She was echoed by the Liberal Democrats, who argued that the proposal would be "expensive for taxpayers, while doing nothing to stop dangerous Channel crossings or combat the smuggling and trafficking gangs".
The UK-based charity Refugee Council, in turn, called for an immediate rethink of the plan as the organization's CEO Enver Solomon told The Daily Mirror that the charity was "appalled by the government's cruel and nasty decision".
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was waiting to see the Rwanda agreement, but voiced concern over Britain's plans to send asylum seekers abroad.
"UNHCR does not support the externalization of asylum states' obligations. This includes measures taken by states to transfer asylum seekers and refugees to other countries, with insufficient safeguards to protect their rights, or where this leads to the shifting rather than the sharing of responsibilities to protect refugees", the agency's spokesperson said in a statement.
Other aspects of the government's so-called "New Plan for Immigration" are thought to include a new reception centre for asylum seekers in North Yorkshire, the UK Ministry of Defense being put in charge of the Channel, and legal reforms to prevent failed asylum seekers mounting repeated appeals.
Rolling out the plan later on Thursday, Johnson is expected to say that "it is a plan that will ensure the UK has a world-leading asylum offer, providing generous protection to those directly fleeing the worst of humanity, by settling thousands of people every year through safe and legal routes".
"Our compassion may be infinite, but our capacity to help people is not", the PM will add, noting that 600 migrants crossed the Channel on Wednesday, a record daily number for this year.
More than 4,600 people have arrived in the UK by small boat crossings since the start of the year, according to estimates by the news agency PA.
