It will be the first flight of a five-year pilot project to relocate asylum seekers from Britain to the East African country if they are deemed to have entered British territory illegally.
London: Thanasis Gavos
The beginning of the controversial program transfer of asylum seekers from Britain to Rwandain order to submit and consider their requests there, the British government intends to do today.
Despite criticism from politicians, the church, about 160 charities and the refugees and immigrants themselves, Foreign Minister Liz Trass said this morning that first flight will take place during the dayeven if the aircraft departs with a single digit number of people.
It will be the first flight of a five-year pilot project to relocate asylum seekers from Britain to the East African country if they are deemed to have entered British territory illegally. It mainly concerns young men who travel alone.
These people will be able to apply for asylum in Rwanda. They will have accommodation and support there while the competent authorities of the country consider their application. If the application is successful they will be able to stay in Rwanda with five years of access to the education and welfare system.
If the application is rejected, they will be offered the opportunity to apply for temporary residence through other immigration routes, but they will also be deported from the African country.
Following 130 appeals to the British judiciary, the 130 asylum seekers on board the first flight to Rwanda have been reduced to seven or eight. However, Ms. Tras said that the flights will be started by all the passengers in order to establish the program and to “break” the model of illegal immigration.
“This program is a crucial part of our strategy to tackle the miserable traffickers who are trading people’s hopes and dreams,” she told the BBC. He added that anyone who is not on the current flight will be on the next one.
The London Court of Appeals on Monday rejected an appeal against the pilot program as a whole, but individual appeals and reactions continue.
In a letter to the Times today, Church of England leaders, including its predecessor, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spoke of “an immoral policy that shames Britain”.
They point out that these people are sent to a distant country “without examining his asylum application or any attempt to understand the difficult situation in which they have found themselves”.
The Rwandan government has set up hostels to accommodate asylum seekers in the capital, Kigali. The country already hosts about 150,000 refugees, mostly from neighboring Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The British government’s decision on the controversial program comes after a sharp increase in the number of refugees and migrants attempting to cross the Channel in small boats. In 2021, 28,526 people were registered who made this daring voyage to the British coast, while in 2020 the corresponding number was 8,404.
Most were from Iran, Iraq, Eritrea and Syria. 75% were men aged 18-39.
