Rwanda: UK Initiated Asylum Deal

Kigali has said it fully upheld its side of the agreement with Britain on deporting thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda.

“Rwanda has fully upheld its side of the agreement, including with regard to finances, and remains committed to finding solutions to the global migration crisis, including providing safety, dignity and opportunity to refugees and migrants who come to our country,” said Rwanda in a statement issued on Monday evening.

Kigali’s statement came days after the new UK government decided to terminate the controversial deportation plan.

The Labour leader and now Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer this past weekend announced that, “The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started,” adding, “It’s never been a deterrent.”

Starmer emphasised that his government was not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent, describing the plan as a “problem that we are inheriting.”

In response, the Rwandan government has said that the plan was initiated by the UK, not Rwanda.

“Rwanda takes note of the intention of the UK Government to terminate the Migration and Economic Development Partnership Agreement, as provided for under the terms of the Treaty passed by both our Parliaments,” said Kigali.

“This partnership was initiated by the Government of the UK in order to address the crisis of irregular migration affecting the UK – a problem of the UK, not Rwanda,”

The Rwanda deportation plan was an initiative of the conservative government that aimed to curb the challenge of thousands of illegal migrants crossing the British channel into the UK on small boats.

The former Conservative government introduced this plan in April 2022, intending to relocate illegal migrants who arrived in Britain.

The Conservative government announced that any asylum seeker entering the UK “illegally” after January 1, 2022, from a safe country like France, could be sent to Rwanda.

Their asylum claims would be processed in Rwanda instead of the UK. If their claims were successful, they could be granted refugee status and permitted to stay in the east-central African country.

Under the Rwanda deal, the UK government would provide fixed-cost development funding to Rwanda, as well as per-person development payments, and per-person processing and integration payments.

DEAL

According to an investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO), the development funding comprised a fixed cost of £370 million up to 2026-27, plus an additional £120 million once 300 people are relocated to Rwanda.

An additional £20,000 would be paid to the development fund for each person that is relocated.

The UK government had paid £240m to Rwanda by the end of 2023.

In addition to payments into Rwanda’s development fund, the Home Office would send per-person payments to Rwanda to cover asylum processing, operational costs, and an integration package for each relocated person.

The integration package included accommodation, food, education, language training, and professional development. These payments would last up to five years and total £150,874 per person.

The UK government claimed that this measure would halt the influx of asylum seekers arriving in small boats. However, the plan was never implemented due to prolonged legal battles.

In April 2024, the UK Parliament approved the controversial law designating Rwanda as a safe third country, effectively bypassing a prior UK Supreme Court ruling that deemed the scheme unlawful on human rights grounds. Authorities began detaining asylum seekers in May under this new legislation.

The policy had been championed by then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who had pledged to halt the arrival of migrants and asylum seekers via small boats from mainland Europe. Sunak faced significant criticism from human rights activists and opponents, who condemned the plan as inhumane.

In a significant twist of events, the Conservative government lost the election last Thursday to the Labour Party which has now buried the deportation plan.

Critics argued that deporting people to Rwanda, rather than processing their asylum claims within the UK, was unacceptable, citing concerns about Rwanda’s own human rights record and the potential danger asylum seekers faced if sent back to their countries of origin.