British Home Secretary Priti Patel responded to criticism of the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, saying that the people who criticized it were unable to offer any other solution.
Patel, who wrote an article for the Times with Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, said they had provided an innovative response to the “deadly trade” of human trafficking.
The two politicians stated that no “benevolent nation” can allow this suffering to continue.
Justin Welby, Archbishop of the Anglican Church of England, stated in his Easter sermon that there were “serious ethical problems with sending asylum seekers abroad”.
Patel and Biruta said the global asylum system is “collapsing” under pressure from humanitarian crises and human trafficking.
Ministers said the plan to transport asylum seekers who entered the UK illegally to Rwanda would allow people fleeing persecution to gain safety.
Emphasizing that the £120 million given to Rwanda by the UK for education expenditures under the plan, will help to overcome the lack of opportunity that triggers economic migration, the two ministers wrote, “We are taking bold and innovative steps. It is surprising that institutions that criticize the plans cannot offer their own solutions.”
“Allowing this suffering to continue is no longer an option for any human nation,” Patel and Biruta wrote in their writing.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said in his sermon that Jesus’ resurrection was not a time to “transfer our responsibilities to others.”
Speaking at Canterbury Cathedral on Sunday, Welby said there were “serious ethical issues with sending asylum seekers abroad” and that “it is against God’s nature to delegate our responsibilities, even to a benevolent country like Rwanda.”
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, joined Welby, saying the policy in question was “depressing and sad”. “We can do better than that,” Cottrell also said.
There has been criticism of the plan from the ruling Conservative Party, as well as opposition parties.
More than 160 non-governmental organizations called on the government to abandon the plan.
Among the concerns of NGOs is Rwanda’s human rights record. As a matter of fact, Britain brought up the allegations of extrajudicial killings, disappearances and torture in the East African country at the United Nations last year.
But Patel and Biruta said Rwanda is “one of the safest countries in the world” and is already hosting 130,000 refugees from multiple countries.
The two ministers argued that the plan would deter immigrants “from risking their lives”.