• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
No Result
View All Result
1
Home Africa

UN High Commissioner dismisses UK government’s proposal to process asylum seekers in Rwanda

14 June 2022, 6:21 PM  |
Sherwin Bryce-Pease Sherwin Bryce-Pease |  @SABCNews
Demonstrators protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice whilst a legal case is heard over halting a planned deportation of asylum seekers from Britain to Rwanda.

Demonstrators protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice whilst a legal case is heard over halting a planned deportation of asylum seekers from Britain to Rwanda.

Image: Reuters

Demonstrators protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice whilst a legal case is heard over halting a planned deportation of asylum seekers from Britain to Rwanda.

The United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees has again dismissed the British Government’s proposal to process UK-bound asylum seekers in Rwanda, as “all wrong”. Filippo Grandi was describing the offshore deal between the two countries that appears set to have started sending third-country nationals to the East African nation as early as Tuesday.

Central to the agreement, anyone landing in the UK illegally is liable to be given a one-way ticket for processing and resettlement in Rwanda. Judges in London rejected a last-ditch effort by human rights groups and campaigners to stop the transfers as part of a plan the UN Refugee Chief described as “catastrophic”.

As part of the initial $148 million deal with Rwanda, Britain will dispatch some migrants who arrived illegally by dangerously crossing the English Channel in small boats from Europe in what the conservative government believes is a strategy to stem their flow and undermine people-smuggling networks.

But UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi disagrees.

Grandi conceded that Rwanda has a strong track record in support of refugees, having taken in tens of thousands Congolese and Burundians but added that what was now being expected of the East African nation was a completely different set of circumstances.

He insists that this should be a bilateral issue between the UK and respective European countries from where these migrants transmit to the UK’s territory with the Refugee Agency offering to provide guidance.

“This makes my work, our work very difficult. There are countries taking in millions of refugees. I’m not talking about the Ukrainians. I’m talking about countries in Africa. You know, I spoke to the president of Costa Rica the other day, 150 000 Nicaraguans. I was in Cameroon not long ago. They host hundreds of thousands of people from the Central African Republic. And more may come. And what am I going to tell them if they say, you know, a rich country like the UK is sending them abroad, I’ll do the same. I’ll close my border. I say, you know, I want to save them from a dangerous journey and they can go to another country. The precedent that this creates is catastrophic.”

Refugee charity Care4Calais said in a statement that of the 113 people they were working with, only ten still had documents indicating they’d be sent on Tuesday, 13 June while adding that a further seven individuals appeared to have removal documents but that they didn’t know who those individuals were.

For its part, the UK Government insists the policy is needed to dismantle the model of gangsters charging would-be-migrants thousands of dollars to undertake the perilous crossing from France to the UK. A full hearing to determine the legality of the UK policy is set to be heard in July.

In the video below, SABC Correspondent Laura Makin-Isherwood reports that the UK has pledged to invest  $150 million in Rwanda’s growth and economic development: 

Share article
Tags: UKUNRwanda
Previous Post

Broos says all stakeholders have to work together for Bafana’s fortunes to be turned around

Next Post

Kidnappings, murder, rape and carjacking figures increased in Gauteng’s fourth quarterly crime stats

Related Posts

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Leaders in Zimbabwe need to find a lasting solution: Mbeki

21 September 2023, 9:39 PM
Egyptian rescuers continue searching for bodies  in the aftermath of the floods in Derna, Libya September 21.

Libya floods sweep away migrants, and their hopes

21 September 2023, 4:32 PM
Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo addresses the 78th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, US, September 20, 2023.

Congo president asks UN peacekeepers to start packing up this year

21 September 2023, 9:02 AM
Rwandan President Paul Kagame attends the lighting ceremony of the Rwandan genocide flame of hope, known as the "Kwibuka" (Remembering), to commemorate the 1994 Genocide at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali, Rwanda April 7, 2023.

Rwanda’s President Kagame to seek re-election in 2024

20 September 2023, 9:30 PM
World Rhino Day is aimed at raising awareness around all five rhino species and the work being done to save them.

Rhino poaching remains a challenge in SA and Africa

20 September 2023, 7:44 PM
Rwanda's President Paul Kagame will stand for re-election next year, hoping to extend nearly a quarter of a century in power.

Rwanda’s veteran president Kagame to seek re-election in 2024

20 September 2023, 12:30 PM
Next Post
Dramatic increases were recorded across the various sub-categories of contact crimes between quarter 1 in 2020/21 and the same period in 2021/22

Kidnappings, murder, rape and carjacking figures increased in Gauteng's fourth quarterly crime stats

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • High waves and rough water conditions force beach closures in the Western Cape
  • UPDATE: Public warned not to go to W Cape beaches as another spring tide expected
  • Spring high tide leaves trail of destruction along Garden Route
  • ‘Buthelezi was a good man who did a bad man’s job’
  • A Celebration of a Legacy: Amabutho, IFP pay final tribute to Prince Buthelezi
  • High waves and rough water conditions force beach closures in the Western Cape
  • Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi to rest in the town he built and nurtured
  • NSPCA files criminal case against Julius Malema for alleged animal cruelty
  • Snow, heavy rainfall expected in parts of KZN: SAWS
  • Cold-front sweeps across SA bringing snow and chilly temperatures
  • Cashless taxi service launched in Cape Town
  • Maimane to take legal action against Gauteng Premier over school closures
  • SA Navy releases names of sub-mariners in Kommetjie tragedy
  • Legal professionals raise concerns over proposed amendments to RAF 
  • Defence advocates for Matshela Koko seek removal of case from court

LATEST

  • Politics

LIVE: Paul Mashatile National Assembly Oral Reply Session


[File Image]: Deputy President Paul Mashatile answering questions in the National Assembly.
  • Politics

Mashatile back in National Assembly for another oral reply session


Sea rescue police after the accident near Kommetjie in Cape Town.
  • South Africa

SA Navy cancels mini-festival after fatal submarine accident


Former Eskom CEO Matshela Koko.
  • South Africa

Judgment reserved in Koko’s bid to have corruption case struck off roll


Kouga Municipality banner.
  • South Africa

Storm damage impacts infrastructure in Kouga Municipality


Members of the Rand Water Board visit Section63 Intervention Programme Waste Water Treatment Sites.
  • South Africa

Limpopo multi-million rand water treatment, sewage project abandoned


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2023

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2023

Previous Broos says all stakeholders have to work together for Bafana’s fortunes to be turned around
Next Kidnappings, murder, rape and carjacking figures increased in Gauteng’s fourth quarterly crime stats