The UK government has recognised that Rwanda still has “human rights issues”, although Rishi Sunak claimed it was a safe country, The Guardian reports.
The documents released on Thursday stated that “although Rwanda is now a relatively peaceful country where the rule of law is respected, there are nevertheless human rights concerns related to political opposition to the current regime, dissent and freedom of expression.”
That assessment is contained in a government “policy statement” that Home Secretary James Cleverly has sent to MPs and Lords in an attempt to win support for the Rwanda Bill.
The documents aim to support the government’s claim that Rwanda is a safe country – a key element of Sunak’s bill to salvage his flagship deportation deal after it was ruled illegal in November.
The policy statement indicated that it could take months for Rwanda to pass a new asylum law needed to implement a new treaty with Britain, which the prime minister has made central to his attempts to convince judges of the legality of the scheme.
In 2017, Paul Kagame came to power in Rwanda for a third seven-year presidential term with 99 per cent of the vote. During the 2017 and 2018 elections, international observers noted numerous shortcomings, including irregularities in the vote counting process, as found by the US government.
The US government’s 2022 Human Rights Report reports that the Rwandan government “prevented the formation of political parties, restricted the activities of political parties, and detained or denied registration to local and international NGOs seeking to work on human rights, media freedom, or political advocacy.”
The Prime Minister is preparing for a showdown in the Commons on Tuesday and Wednesday over his plan for Rwanda. Former justice minister Sir Robert Buckland has proposed a number of amendments to Rwanda’s security bill, including one that would remove clauses declaring the East African state a safe country.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has joined more than 30 right-wing MPs who want to tighten the bill. She said:
“We have told the British people time and again that we intend to crack down on illegal migration yet keep being thwarted by a range of spurious legal loopholes being exploited by activist lawyers. It is essential that the legislation we are passing is watertight and closes all those possible loopholes, which is why I am backing this raft of amendments.”
Labour plans to table amendments that would force the government to publish a full cost impact assessment of the bill, including the cost of removal per person and details of the financial memorandum signed between the UK and Rwanda.
Meanwhile, ministers have been accused of having a “woefully inadequate” plan to restrict Channel crossings after failing to offer asylum seekers more legal ways to reach the UK. Under the Illegal Migration Act passed last year, the government was required to produce a report outlining what was meant by safe and legal asylum routes and detailing what programmes were already in place and what additional ones were being proposed.
However, in a written statement issued in fulfilment of this duty, Cleverley did not identify any proposed new safe routes.
The Refugee Council stated that the report “does not propose any new safe routes or improve existing schemes”.
