London has signed an agreement to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, to discourage illegal immigrants

It's a controversial decision to say the least.

Rwanda announced on Thursday that it had signed a multimillion-dollar agreement with London to receive migrants and asylum seekers of various nationalities on its soil who will be transported from the United Kingdom.

This project was unveiled a few hours before a speech by Boris Johnson on new measures to combat illegal immigration.

In particular, he must announce his plan to "break the structures of smugglers, intensify operations in the Channel, bring more criminals to justice and end the barbaric trade in human misery", according to Downing Street.

“I understand that these people are looking for a better life (…) and the hopes of a new beginning.

But these hopes, these dreams, have been exploited.

These smugglers abuse vulnerable people and make the Channel an underwater cemetery, ”said Boris Johnson in particular, according to his services.

An agreement worth more than 140 million euros

While the Conservative leader had promised to control immigration, one of the key issues in the Brexit campaign, the number of illegal immigrants crossing the Channel has tripled in 2021. Eager to regain popularity and seduce his voters, Boris Johnson and his government have been seeking for months to conclude agreements with third countries where to send the migrants while waiting to process their file.

Mentioned, Ghana firmly denied in January being in discussion with the United Kingdom on the subject.

"Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to welcome asylum seekers and migrants, and offer them legal avenues to live" in this East African country, said in a press release the Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta while British Home Secretary Priti Patel is visiting Kigali.

London will initially finance the device to the tune of 120 million pounds sterling (144 million euros).

“Scandalous” policy, “inhuman” measure

Sending asylum seekers more than 6,000 kilometers from the United Kingdom aims to discourage candidates leaving for the United Kingdom, who are ever more numerous: 28,500 people made these perilous crossings in 2021, compared to 8,466 in 2020… And only 299 in 2018, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior.

Read also“It could have been me”: Jack, a 21-year-old migrant, crossed the Channel a few days before the terrible shipwreck

But the deal sparked outraged reactions.

Human rights organizations have denounced a "scandalous" and "barbaric" policy.

For its part, the opposition judged that it was an “inhumane” measure.

Even in the Conservative ranks, criticism has flared, MP Tobias Ellwood estimating on the BBC that it is a "huge attempt to divert attention" from the setbacks of Boris Johnson in the "partygate".

The British Parliament is also about to adopt a law which could authorize the creation of centers abroad to deport migrants while their applications are being processed or even authorize the coast guard to push migrants out of British waters. migrant boats.

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), if such a law were adopted, it would contradict the Geneva Convention for Refugees, which the United Kingdom has signed.