UK migrants will feel at home, safe in Rwanda

Author: Emma Mukasa

• 2023-02-19 05:48:00

More than 1,000 migrants have arrived in the UK since Priti Patel announced the government’s Rwanda plan

On February 9, the European Union ambassador to Rwanda, Belén Calvo Uyarra, announced a renewed funding of €22 million to support an Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) in Rwanda that provides protection to refugees and asylum seekers.

The migrants are evacuated from Libya to Rwanda and facilitated in different ways including health, security and livelihood trainings.

Calvo Uyarra said that this additional funding for the next four years - until 2026 - is a testament of the success that this initiative has achieved since its start in September 2019, following a tripartite agreement signed between the government of Rwanda, the African Union and the UNHCR.

“The Emergency Transit Mechanism in Rwanda is a crucial life-saving initiative to evacuate people facing major threats and inhumane conditions in Libya to safety in Rwanda. It is a significant example of African solidarity and of partnership with the European Union. We are grateful to the Government of Rwanda for hosting these men, women and children until such time, durable solutions can be found,” she said.

 But what does this continuous UNHCR and EU support to Rwandan reception of migrants mean?

Rwanda is a trusted country to host and provide safety to refugees and asylum seekers.

It is offering solutions to global problems.

The renewal of the EU funding proves wrong the Western media, lawyers and UK charity organizations that keep advancing the narrative that Rwanda is unsafe for UK migrants.

If Rwanda can protect more than 130,000 refugees from Libya, Afghanistan, DRC, Burundi, South Sudan and more, what’s so special about UK asylum seekers that Rwanda can’t afford to give them?

If Europe and the UN refugee agency can applaud Rwanda for treating well refugees, what reasons do they give for the country being ‘dangerous’ to UK migrants?

The reason an evil picture of Kigali is painted is to halt the UK-Rwanda asylum deal. Corrupt profiteers of illegal crossing of migrants through dangerous routes are gaining big from the refugee crisis.

The so-called rights groups, activists and lawyers pretend to advocate for the refugees yet they don’t care about their lives but the money they gain from them.

Once the migrants relocate to Rwanda, these individuals’ crooked businesses will flop. Therefore, they resort to scaring the migrants about their relocation to Rwanda. But once the UK migrants reach Rwanda, they will be a living proof that the country wants the best for them.

They will find safety and security, and will be treated with dignity and respect like other citizens. Rwanda will accommodate them in suitable self-contained hotels where every person will be given a daily allowance to cater for food and other essential necessities. They will be free to come and go as they want and will have the right to work and access services. Undoubtedly, Rwandans will integrate them in society.

Since 1996, the country has been receiving Congolese fleeing violence. In 2015 Rwanda welcomed Burundians following election-related tensions. Since 2019 Kigali has been receiving migrants from Libya and in 2021, the country hosted Afghans.

This is proof that Rwanda has welcomed thousands of refugees and migrants. They are all safe and secure.

UK migrants should not worry or be weakened by profiteers of their lives, because no single refugee or asylum seeker ever faced human rights violations in Rwanda. They praise the comfort they have and some of them have settled and made Rwanda their home.