It’s a “world first”, UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel boasts, “a migration and economic development partnership with the country of Rwanda and UK.”
A trade deal has been announced by the UK Tory Government where the product to be transported is people who have fled the horrors of conflict, war and oppression to seek help in a country they assume to be supportive of those living in terror.
According to Priti Patel the UK is incapable of supporting those seeking asylum and that the system “is collapsing under a combination of real humanitarian crises and evil people smugglers profiteering by exploiting the system for their own gain.”
The trade deal between the UK and Rwanda is enabled by the Nationality and Borders Bill, which will soon become law when passed by the UK Parliament.
According to the UK Government this trade deal in people “fully complies with all international and national law” but then that statement is coming from a government whose Prime Minister has been found guilty of breaking the law on multiple occasions, partying as the rest of the country struggled with the Covid pandemic.
The claim by the UK Tory Government that paying the government of Rwanda £120million to transport people is legal, will be challenged by a host of NGOs and human rights lawyers, appalled at the deal.
Rwanda itself has a poor human rights record and only in January the same UK Government boasting about this deal was voicing concerns about deaths in custody, disappearances, torture and other abuses taking place in Rwanda.
UK Trade with Rwanda
We can now add in People to the next round of trade statistics with Rwanda.
After years of threats, intimidation, mysterious deaths, and high profile, politically motivated trials, few opposition parties remain active or make public comments on government policies.
Human Rights Watch: World Report 2020 Rwanda
Fiona Grahame