- Joseph Lee
- BBC News
1 hour ago
Priti Patel and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Perrota said their plan was “bold and innovative”.
British Home Secretary Priti Patel has responded to critics of the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda by saying the critics have not offered solutions.
In a joint article with Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Perrota, published in The Times, Patel said they had proposed an innovative solution to tackle the “deadly trade” of people smugglers.
The two ministers said that no “humanitarian country” would allow this suffering to continue.
This article comes after the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said there were “serious ethical questions” about the plan.
Patel and Berota said the global asylum system was “collapse” under the pressure of humanitarian crises and human trafficking.
The two ministers expected that the scheme, which would transfer some asylum seekers who enter the UK illegally to Rwanda where they can apply to settle there, would give safety to people fleeing persecution.
They added that Britain’s investment in Rwanda – 120 million pounds as an initial amount – would help address the job shortage driving economic migration.
“We are taking bold and innovative steps and it is surprising that those institutions that criticize the plan do not offer solutions,” they wrote in their article.
They said that “allowing this suffering to continue is no longer an option for any humanitarian country.”
It has also become clear that some of the refugees in Rwanda will be sent to the UK under the terms of the agreement between the two countries.
A British government source told the BBC that the government would provide support to Rwanda to resettle “a part of the refugees most at risk”.
The scheme will initially focus mainly on single men arriving in the UK on small boats or trucks. Accommodations will be provided for those people who will be sent to Rwanda while their asylum claims are processed.
If their applications are accepted, they will be able to remain in the East African country.
In his Easter Sunday homily, the Archbishop of Canterbury became the latest figure to criticize the plan. He accused the government of “subcontracting our responsibilities” and said the plan could not “stand up to God’s judgment”.
picture released, Getty Images
Justin Welby, in his Easter homily, addressed the “serious ethical questions” about sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.
He was joined by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, who said the politics of the plan were “frustrating and painful”, adding: “We can do better than this.”
Opposition parties and some members of the ruling Conservative Party have also criticized the plan, while more than 160 charities and activist groups have called it “shamefully brutal” and urged the Prime Minister and Battle to scrap it.
Opposition Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer called the plan “impractical”, while the Liberal Democrats said the government was “shutting the door” on refugees. The head of the Scottish National Party bloc in the House of Commons, Ian Blackford, called it “chilling in every sense of the word”.
Rwanda’s human rights record was among their concerns, especially since the United Kingdom had raised allegations at the United Nations last year about extrajudicial killings, disappearances and torture in that country.
But in their article, Patel and Berruta said Rwanda “ranks as one of the safest countries in the world” and has already taken in 130,000 refugees from several countries.
While the Rwandan home minister and foreign minister said the scheme would “deter migrants from risking their lives by making dangerous journeys”, a letter from senior Home Office officials said the evidence of the scheme’s deterrent effect was “highly uncertain”.
Matthew Rycroft, the Home Office’s permanent undersecretary, warned that policy over the scheme had a heavy price and would only be financially viable if it succeeded in reducing the number of English Channel crossings and illegal entries into the UK.
Battle had issued a cabinet directive for the plan to pass, which means she will take responsibility for that policy, something Labor MP Dame Meg Helier, chair of the Public Accountability Committee, told the BBC was “extremely unusual” at the Ministry of Labor. interior.
The opposition MP said that if a policy was drafted “at the last minute”, it would be difficult to prove its feasibility, but since the idea of processing asylum-seekers’ applications abroad has been explored by the government for some time, Hellyer said she would be interested in seeing “their accountability”.