CWR’s statement on the uk government’s cruel plan to send asylum seekers to rwanda

The UK Government has entered into an agreement with the Government of Rwanda, to immediately deport migrants and asylum seekers arriving in the UK after long and often harrowing journeys. 

This plan is wholly inconsistent with the protections in place under the Refugee Convention, to which the UK is a signatory, and puts those who arrive on our shores seeking safety back in danger. The danger is not theoretical, this model has been tried – Israel made a similar deal with Rwanda in 2013 – and it led to refugees being detained, beaten and forced to seek out smugglers to escape their situation in Rwanda. 

It is absolutely legal for any person to claim asylum in any country in the world, regardless of how they travel there. The UK Government is seeking to obscure that fact, erasing the set of fundamental laws that keep innocent people safe. This Government has worked tirelessly to eradicate safe routes, to dismantle legal processes, and now blame “evil trafficking gangs” for the holes in the British resettlement system that our Home Office have purposefully created to wash their own hands of responsibility.

While Boris Johnson and Priti Patel speak of innocent refugees taken advantage of by “people smugglers”, the Government’s actions expose refugees to even further exploitation once they come to British shores. 

Deporting people seeking asylum thousands of miles away to Rwanda risks creating Britain’s version of Australia’s Nauru and Papua New Guinea “Processing Centres”, offshore immigration detention facilities that are globally condemned for the routine abuse and isolation suffered inside them and notorious for the $4m cost to the taxpayer per year to hold one person. 

We have been very lucky, here in Cheltenham, to meet wonderful people from across the world who have entrusted our town with their safety and put faith in us. We are fortunate to be able to make new friends and support families from abroad.

CWR supports people who will be directly affected by measures like this. Our friends are those who will be put at risk. Those who come with hope for a safe life in the UK will be turned away at the door and put through unspeakable additional trauma as a result. 

The plan to offshore asylum seekers is cruel and inhumane. It will not deter people who feel their only hope is to reach the UK. It will be ineffective and expensive. 

This plan is out of touch with the welcoming spirit we in the UK want to show to those who flee war and persecution. It is unacceptable that this should be our Government’s response. It cannot be allowed to happen in our name. To inflict such unnecessary pain and trauma on those already enduring unspeakable conditions is to abandon what makes us human. Please raise your voices to protect those who most deserve the dignity and shelter that we can – and should – provide.

ACTIONS:

Rainbow Migration have prepared a template letter urging the Government not to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. Write to your MP now.

Detention Action have a write to your MP tool, urging MPs to stand against this cruelty and vote against the Anti-Refugee Bill.

Sign the change.org petition here.