London's High Court ruled, on December 19, that Britain's plan to send migrants to Rwanda is lawful. It is a victory for UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who promised to tackle the problem of thousands of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel every month.

 

The plan, which was decried by profiteers and heartless spoilers with ulterior hidden agendas after it was announced in April, involves the UK sending tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to Rwanda. Some in the international media, academics and rights groups blindly characterized the UK-Rwanda partnership as echoing and troubling colonial practice of moving people across continents without their consent.

 

UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, welcomed the Court ruling, saying that  Britain’s ground-breaking migration partnership with Rwanda will disrupt the business model of people smuggling gangs putting lives at risk through dangerous and illegal small boat crossings.

 

“We've always maintained that this policy is lawful and today the Court upholds this. I am committed to making this partnership work - my focus remains on moving ahead with the policy as soon as possible and we stand ready to defend against any further legal challenge,” reads Braverman’s statement in part.

 

The deal seeks to empower the migrants with a range of opportunities for building a better life in Rwanda through different initiatives.  They will be entitled to full protection under Rwandan law, equal access to employment, and enrolment in healthcare and social care services, among others.

 

The UK’s upfront investment of £120 million will fund opportunities for Rwandans and migrants including secondary qualifications, vocational and skills training, language lessons, and higher education.

 

Rwandan government’s spokesperson, Yolande Makolo, echoed Braverman, saying it is a positive step in a quest to contribute to innovative, long-term solutions to the global migration crisis.

 

Former UK Prime Minister whose government initiated the deal, Boris Johnson, appreciated the High Court’s ruling, calling it “one of the only humane ways of dealing with the vile people trafficking gangs who are exploiting so many people.”

 

 

Since it’s signing in April 2022 in Kigali, the deal has drawn a lot of negative criticism, yet no other solutions for migrants’ crisis was proposed by its detractors.

 

In an open letter, titled "shamefully cruel,” more than 100 charities and campaign groups, including the UK network of non-governmental organizations Bond, in April, called on the government to scrap the plans. They never actually proposed real working solutions to this migration crisis, not because they don’t want to, but because they have no sound solutions to offer.

 

What Rwanda is doing with the UK is specifically about dealing with people being bought and sold across borders, helping them to have a peaceful safe life, and dignity; while  doing its part in finding a solution.

 

UK charity organizations, a number of lawyers and home owners are gaining from the refugees ‘rescuing plot’. This is why the success of the deal frustrates those so-called human rights activists.

 

It is a deadly, but lucrative, business as the migrants pay a lot of money to reach the UK. The price to cross the Channel varies, according to the network of smugglers, between $3,380 and $8,000. Reports indicate that the people who collect the money — up to $432,000 per boat that makes it across the narrows of the channel — are not the ones arrested in the periodic raids along the coastline.

 

At a minimum, smuggling organizations netted $77.7 million for the crossing, or Euros 2 million per kilometer, in 2021.

 

The so-called ‘activists’ are now connecting their clients with lawyers and house owners, and earning from it. The success of the UK-Rwanda deal will become a big loss to them all as well as the people smugglers and traffickers.

 

The order of events begins with charities facilitating and encouraging illegal migrants to cross the Channel; promising to get them a home in the UK. The process involves lawyers to defend asylum claims while house owners profit from renting out their homes at a high price.

 

For instance, Care4Calais’s volunteers work at more than 140 hotels around the UK where thousands of asylum seekers live at a cost of $5.8 million a day, paid by government. After collecting more than $100,000 from crowd funding to cover legal fees, the charity was a crucial Government opponent during the legal quarreling in the High Court and Supreme Court to stop an initial 130 migrants being deported to Rwanda in June. It collaborated with the law firm, Duncan Lewis, to contest UK’s plan.

 

Rwanda is already home to more than 130,000 refugees from different countries and other asylum seekers from Libya and Afghanistan. They are safe and secure, and assisted in various aspects of life whether economically or socially.

 

Visiting Rwanda in 2021, Freallyilippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said: “I want to particularly thank the Government of Rwanda. It was President Paul Kagame’s initiative to launch the ETM (Emergency Transit Mechanism) in Rwanda a few years ago, and of course we will continue to need this mechanism as long as the situation in Libya continues to be as difficult as it is now.”

 

After the High Court ruling, the corrupted Care4Calais, among other detractors of the UK-Rwanda deal, announced: “The fight against the Rwanda policy is getting bigger, and costs are rising so we need your help.”

 

The organization claimed that the policy is unlawful but Court proved it lawful. All the detractors do not want to let go. But they know that they will never win.