International
Profiteers, detractors of UK Rwanda asylum deal won’t let go. Here’s why
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.