London and Kigali signed a new treaty in Rwanda this Tuesday, November 5, aimed at resuscitating a controversial agreement to expel migrants who arrived illegally in the United Kingdom to this country, three weeks after the rejection of a previous project.
The British government is trying to save this flagship measure of its policy against illegal immigration, after the snub inflicted in mid-November by the British Supreme Court which confirmed that its project was illegal as it stands.
“We have a role to play in this illegal immigration crisis”
British Home Secretary James Cleverly signed the new treaty in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, after a visit to the Rwandan genocide memorial and a meeting with Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta.
“We have continued this partnership with the United Kingdom because we believe that we have a role to play in this illegal immigration crisis,” assured Vincent Biruta during a press conference, when James Cleverly declared having “huge admiration for the Rwandan government, which has received much criticism.” This new treaty “will respond to the concerns of the Supreme Court by guaranteeing in particular that Rwanda will not expel to another country people transferred within the framework of the partnership”, assured a little earlier in a press release from the Ministry of the Interior, in response to one of the main concerns of the magistrates.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, James Cleverly assured that a “legally binding treaty” would be signed with Kigali to provide guarantees on the fate of migrants expelled from the United Kingdom. The text must now be ratified by the British and Rwandan Parliaments.