Kurdish migrants in France downplay UK’s Rwanda plan

DUNKIRK, France - Kurdish migrants living in the forests of Dunkirk in France are determined to cross the English Channel into the UK despite the country’s new asylum plan announced last week to send new asylum seekers to Rwanda. 

Last week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled a new plan to send asylum seekers entering the country to Rwanda while their applications for asylum are processed. 

Many of those currently stuck in Dunkirk, waiting for the opportunity to make the Channel crossing, are downplaying the statements made by the British prime minister, saying the announcement was made just to discourage those intending to make the journey. 

“It is made only to spark fear among the migrants, and dissuade people from migrating to the UK this summer. It is true that it was announced, but it will not materialize,” Shahram Ahmed, a Kurdish migrant from Iran, told Rudaw’s Alla Shally on Monday. 

Others are concerned about the possibility of being sent to the African nation, but are left with no alternative other than taking the risk to reach the UK in hopes of a better life. 

"What are we supposed to do? We risked it all to make this journey. We do not have the option to return,” Koyar Sardar, another Kurdish migrant from Iran said. “We cannot return to our country,” he added.

Numerous civil unions, rights groups, and political opposition parties in the UK condemned the Rwanda plan.

The UN’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR) called on the UK to “re-think” its plans.

Thousands of people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region left the country in 2021 for Europe.

Young people seek to leave the country in search of jobs and opportunities they feel they cannot access at home where unemployment levels are high and political tensions, corruption, and instability have left them with little hope for their future.

A boat carrying 33 migrants from different countries, including Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, capsized in the English Channel on November 24. One of the survivors told Rudaw English at the time that the incident took place in British territorial waters.