‘Egregious Breach of Refugee Law’: BoJo’s Rwanda Asylum Plan ‘Unacceptable', Says UN Refugee Agency

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier announced a plan to deport unauthorised asylum seekers crossing the English Channel to Rwanda for processing. This comes as part of an urgent response to the escalating migrant crisis, which has seen the number of arrivals pass 5,000 this year.

The UK government’s multi-million pound deal to tackle the cross-channel migrant crisis by flying asylum-seekers to Rwanda for processing and settlement has drawn outrage and been denounced as “unacceptable” by the UN refugee agency.

Gillian Triggs, assistant secretary-general at the United Nations refugee agency, warned that it was a “breach” of international and refugee law.

Triggs, an Australian, clarified a similar offshore immigration system set up in her country, where intercepted migrants are transferred to asylum processing centres on Pacific islands such as Nauru.

"My point is, just as the Australian policy is an egregious breach of international law and refugee law and human rights law, so too is this proposal by the United Kingdom government", Triggs told the BBC.

Speaking of the “offshoring” tactic that was also attempted after a migration deal was struck between Rwanda and Israel in 2014-2017, she continued:

"It is very unusual, very few states have tried this, and the purpose is primarily deterrent - and it can be effective, I don't think we're denying that. But what we're saying at the UN refugee agency is that there are much more legally effective ways of achieving the same outcome".

The plan to send Eritrean and Sudanese refugees to Rwanda was abandoned as ineffective by Israel after they "simply left the country and started the process all over again".

‘Breach of Geneva Convention'

Boris Johnson’s announced plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing as part of his "New Plan for Immigration" has met with a torrent of criticism from politicians and refugee groups.

Lord Alf Dubs suggested the deal breaches the 1951 Geneva Convention on refugees.

"I think it's a way of getting rid of people the government doesn't want, dumping them in a distant African country, and they'll have no chance of getting out of there again. You can't just shunt them around like unwanted people", the Labour peer was cited by The Guardian as saying. He vowed that the ministers would face a fierce battle in parliament over the plans.

Conservative MPs have largely welcomed the policy, unveiled this week by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Acknowledging the possible legal challenges it entailed, the PM said:

"We are confident that our new migration partnership is fully compliant with our international legal obligations, but nevertheless we expect this will be challenged in the courts".

Earlier this week, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel signed the historic deal, which presupposes an initial down-payment of £120m ($157 million) to the Rwandan government, during a visit to the East African country’s capital, Kigali.

As 181 migrants crowded into six boats were intercepted in the channel in the 24 hours to 15 April, according to the UK Ministry of Defence, Patel dismissed criticism that the Rwanda plan was too costly.

“The costs right now [of the asylum system] are going to go up and up and up because we can’t stop the boats today or tomorrow. The projections for the summer are incredibly high. Currently, we stand at a bill for taxpayers for over £1.5bn pounds a year and that’ll just go up if we do nothing”, Patel stated.

Patel also claimed the plan would be used as a "blueprint" for other countries, such as Denmark.

"There is no question now that the model we have put forward, I'm convinced is world class and a world first, and it will be used as a blueprint going forward, there's no doubt about that", she said.

Waleed (3L), 29, a Kuwaiti migrant, stands with other migrants onboard the DHB Dauntless tug boat as they are brought to shore by the UK Border Force after illegally crossing the English Channel from France on a dinghy on September 11, 2020, in the marina at Dover, on the south coast of England

© AFP 2023 / BEN STANSALL

It was also reported on Friday that the Home Secretary issued a "ministerial direction" over the Rwanda deal, thus overruling senior Home Office officials' financial objections to it.

In response, a Home Office source was cited by Sky News as saying:

"Home Office officials are clear that deterring illegal entry would create significant savings. However, such a deterrent effect cannot be quantified with certainty. It would be wrong to let a lack of precise modelling delay a policy aimed at reducing illegal migration, saving lives, and breaking the business model of the smuggling gangs".

The UK Home Office announced on 14 April that the transfer of illegal migrants from the UK to Rwanda could start within weeks, with the first flights taking place in the next few months.