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STUDIO DN
Why does the UK want to send asylum seekers to Rwanda?
Katrine Marçal, a few weeks ago the first plane to travel from Great Britain to Rwanda’s capital Kigali was stopped. What was the plan, and why was it stopped?
– It is an agreement that Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in April this year. It is about asylum seekers who come to the UK via the English Channel instead being sent to Rwanda and allowed to seek asylum there. This has been very controversial. Everyone from the English State Church to Prince Charles, it is said, and very many human rights organizations have been very critical of the agreement. This plane was stopped at the last second, in a very complicated chain of legal decisions. The British government simply wants to continue with this, and is preparing for new plans to be able to take off, says Katrine Marçal to Studio DN.
Erik Esbjörnsson, what does this agreement between Rwanda and the UK look like from Rwanda’s point of view?
– In part, it is about them getting money, 120 million pounds, and there will be more money over time as well. Secondly, it is also about being the one who can “stand up”, and they very often identify these issues of tension in Europe, where they can hit a wedge or make themselves indispensable. The same applies to UN forces that they send in different places. It is about making Europe dependent on them. It is not really a matter of the heart for President Paul Kagame and his government, but they have obviously seen that here we can get a lot of attention and money, and at the same time create a situation of dependence between Rwanda and Britain.
This is an excerpt from the podcast Studio DN. In this section you will also find out what international law says about sending asylum seekers to other countries than the ones they are seeking asylum in, and about how asylum seekers’ freedoms and rights are to be secured in repressive Rwanda.
Listen to the entire episode here:
STUDIO DN
Why does the UK want to send asylum seekers to Rwanda?
Host: Palmira Koukkari Mbenga
Producer: Sabina Marmullakaj
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Read more:
The British continue with plans for Rwanda flights
Erik de la Reguera: The British agreement with Rwanda points to a major problem
Erik Esbjörnsson: Nobody talks about Rwanda’s motives for receiving asylum seekers
Erik Esbjörnsson: Therefore, feelings of guilt make the outside world turn a blind eye to the violence in Rwanda