British MP deems UK Rwanda plan 'inhumane'
LONDON, United Kingdom - A prominent British MP on Tuesday said the UK government’s decision to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is “inhumane” and “unlawful.”
"No wealthy civilized country should be seeking to stop refugees," Tim Farron, a British MP and former leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2017 told Rudaw’s Alla Shally on Tuesday.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the Rwanda plan in April in a bid to deter illegal migrants from undertaking perilous crossing of the English Channel by small boats run by smugglers. The plan has been widely criticized by human rights agencies, advocates, and the UN.
This policy will not stop refugees from coming to the UK, Farron added.
“We want to provide safe routes for people who want to come to the United Kingdom to claim asylum and that could happen by people applying from France to seek asylum in the UK or we can look at allowing people to seek asylum from the regions that are affected. Maybe we could do a deal with Rwanda so that people could seek asylum in the UK from Rwanda," he detailed.
Despite Johnson's Rwanda plan, the number of migrants seeking refuge in the UK by crossing the English Channel from France has risen 68 percent in the first half of 2022, according to the French authorities, detailing that from January 1 to June 13, there were 777 attempted crossings involving 20,132 people.
More than 52,000 people tried to reach the UK via the waterways in 2021, with 28,000 of the migrants making the perilous journey to the UK.
Thirty-one migrants were scheduled to be sent out to Rwanda last week, but a UK-based charity said 24 of them had their tickets canceled. Only seven migrants, including two Iraqis, were set to fly out to the African nation, according to Care4Calais, before a European rights court issued a ruling to remove the remaining migrants from the flight shortly before its departure.
"There are no human rights in this country," Karwan Saeed, a father of seven who has been living in the UK for the past two decades, and was among those scheduled to be deported to Rwanda after he was stripped of his British citizenship for an unlawful act that he was not willing to share with the media, told Rudaw earlier this week.
"You may feel that there are human rights when you are out, but in their detention facilities, there are no human rights."
The UK delivered an up-front payment for the African nation of about $157 million to help pay for resettlement and integration of the asylum seekers.
"No wealthy civilized country should be seeking to stop refugees," Tim Farron, a British MP and former leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2017 told Rudaw’s Alla Shally on Tuesday.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the Rwanda plan in April in a bid to deter illegal migrants from undertaking perilous crossing of the English Channel by small boats run by smugglers. The plan has been widely criticized by human rights agencies, advocates, and the UN.
This policy will not stop refugees from coming to the UK, Farron added.
“We want to provide safe routes for people who want to come to the United Kingdom to claim asylum and that could happen by people applying from France to seek asylum in the UK or we can look at allowing people to seek asylum from the regions that are affected. Maybe we could do a deal with Rwanda so that people could seek asylum in the UK from Rwanda," he detailed.
Despite Johnson's Rwanda plan, the number of migrants seeking refuge in the UK by crossing the English Channel from France has risen 68 percent in the first half of 2022, according to the French authorities, detailing that from January 1 to June 13, there were 777 attempted crossings involving 20,132 people.
More than 52,000 people tried to reach the UK via the waterways in 2021, with 28,000 of the migrants making the perilous journey to the UK.
Thirty-one migrants were scheduled to be sent out to Rwanda last week, but a UK-based charity said 24 of them had their tickets canceled. Only seven migrants, including two Iraqis, were set to fly out to the African nation, according to Care4Calais, before a European rights court issued a ruling to remove the remaining migrants from the flight shortly before its departure.
"There are no human rights in this country," Karwan Saeed, a father of seven who has been living in the UK for the past two decades, and was among those scheduled to be deported to Rwanda after he was stripped of his British citizenship for an unlawful act that he was not willing to share with the media, told Rudaw earlier this week.
"You may feel that there are human rights when you are out, but in their detention facilities, there are no human rights."
The UK delivered an up-front payment for the African nation of about $157 million to help pay for resettlement and integration of the asylum seekers.