Offshoring refugees by force to Rwanda is inhumane and cruel 

By Claudia Webbe MP

Nothing about this plan makes sense, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE MP, unless it’s simply aimed to disgust and enrage all decent people — it is illogical and fails on its own terms, costing us far more than exercising basic humanity to refugees

THE proposal to deport asylum-seekers 4,000 miles away to Rwanda is a desperate and shameful announcement by Boris Johnson in an attempt to dehumanise refugees, pit our communities against each other and distract from his own law breaking.

The announcement demonstrates that there are no depths this government is not willing to sink to in order to divide and rule our country and protect its own interests.

It is a cruel, racist, unworkable, unethical and extortionate policy that would cost the British taxpayer billions of pounds during a cost-of-living crisis and which abandons our legal obligation to refugees and asylum-seekers.

Practically, the plan is illogical and fails on its own terms. The abhorrent proposal is based on the Australian system, which is the worst and least humane template to emulate. Indeed, Home Secretary Priti Patel recently recruited the former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer to review the country’s border force, weeks after he had urged Britain to adopt a hard line on asylum-seekers arriving by boat.

Australia has spent £5.5 billion sending over 3,000 asylum-seekers offshore since July 2013, equating to over £1.7 million per asylum-seeker — over a hundred times more expensive than our current asylum system.

One of its two centres has shut down, the majority of people have been transferred back to Australia and people haven’t been sent offshore since 2014. At least 12 people have died in the Australian offshore camps and there have been hundreds of reports of child abuse and self-harm.

The Prime Minister and Home Secretary state that the proposal will act as a deterrent for asylum-seekers arriving by boat or dinghy. Yet this policy will do nothing to clamp down on trafficking gangs; instead, it further penalises their victims.

The fact that the government wishes to deter people fleeing war, violence and persecution is immoral — yet this policy does not even achieve that callous aim.

Matthew Rycroft, the civil servant in charge of the Home Office, admitted that there is no evidence that the policy will act as a deterrent and therefore it’s unlikely to provide value for money.

The cost of the policy is eye-watering, with the government paying Rwanda £120 million up front as well as an additional £30,000 per person.

Yet the financial and practical failings of the proposal are insignificant when compared to its utter moral failings. This trade with Rwanda, forcing people offshore and treating them as human cargo, is shameful and can be regarded as nothing less than glorified human trafficking.

The government must remember that there is no such thing as an illegal asylum-seeker. The policy is designed to stoke the flames of hate and to dehumanise people fleeing unimaginable suffering. It erodes the basic human decency upon which governance should be operated.

Gillian Triggs, assistant secretary-general at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, said the scheme was an “egregious breach of international and refugee law.”

Britain is a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. This means Britain is required to grant asylum to a refugee, who is defined in that convention as someone who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

Britain is also bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, which “prevents Britain from sending someone to a country where there is a real risk they may be exposed to torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

There are also grave concerns regarding Rwanda’s suitability to host asylum-seekers, as Amnesty International and other human rights organisations have criticised the country’s record on human rights.

For instance, in 2020, over a thousand people applied for asylum in Britain on the basis of sexual orientation. Yet the government now plans to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda where, according to the British government’s own website, LGBT+ people report societal discrimination and abuse and their safety cannot be guaranteed.

The plans show the government is happy to reduce the lives and safety of vulnerable people to political bargaining chips in a desperate attempt to save its own skin. According to widespread reports, the Rwanda offshore processing policy was just one part of a series of policy announcements, codenamed Operation Red Meat, to help relieve pressure on the embattled Prime Minister. Other proposals included a plan to put the military in charge of stopping people from crossing the Channel in small boats to reach Britain.

Downing Street policy “experts” have also looked into using powerful sonic weapons to turn back the boats. This would use long-range acoustic devices, such as those used in the US for crowd control.

These sound cannons emit noise powerful enough to induce vomiting. This is an abhorrent proposal that we must fight tooth and nail against ever being implemented. Indeed, we must organise to ensure that no more of the “red meat” proposals are introduced.

A record 28,300 migrants and refugees attempted to cross the Channel to Britain last year, more than three times the 8,400 who crossed in 2020. With endless wars and climate catastrophe there is no sign of a decline this year — the number of people crossing last month was more than double the total for January 2021.

The only humane response is to open safe and legal routes for asylum. Yet the Home Secretary’s recent asylum system overhaul lacks basic humanity and represent the latest step in this government’s pernicious demonisation of asylum-seekers. It has rightly been criticised by human rights organisations and religious leaders.

The British government has persistently been warned that if they do not open safe and legal routes for people to practice their legal right to claim asylum, deaths at sea are unavoidable. Yet the government has proceeded to close the few legal avenues that exist, such as the right to family reunion.

Contrary to the mistruths peddled by right-wing commentators, asylum-seekers do not arrive in Britain to leech off the state — Asylum Support Allowance is a mere £40.85 per week. And far from the myths propagated by the Home Secretary, it is also far from the case that Britain is overwhelmed with asylum-seekers, with Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece and France registering far more asylum applicants.

Indeed, Home Office decision-making has collapsed under Patel — delays and incompetence mean the department is making 50 per cent fewer asylum decisions than five years ago and fewer asylum decisions than countries with smaller populations such as Belgium or the Netherlands, let alone comparably sized neighbours including France or Germany.

In the sixth-richest country in the world, there is no reason why we cannot provide a humane pathway towards stability and dignity for everyone in this country. We must also remember that 83 per cent of refugees worldwide live in developing regions — not industrialised countries — which further reflects the grim, unbalanced nature of global power dynamics that are a legacy of colonialism and imperialism.

The Rwanda offshore processing policy is the latest example of the government’s mistreatment and demonisation of refugees and asylum-seekers. It has sadly been a tried and tested technique of reactionary governments to gild their destructive administrations with a toxic veneer of appearing “strong” on immigration.

However, this divide and rule tactic has only ever brought misery to all working people, regardless of their country of birth. It is not asylum-seekers and refugees who cause poverty and division, but rather the elite who punish and demonise them. As Tony Benn said “the way a government treats refugees is very instructive because it shows you how they would treat the rest of us if they thought they could get away with it.”

We must oppose this callous policy, fight for a humane immigration system and stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the victims of this government’s brutal agenda.

Claudia Webbe MP is the member of Parliament for Leicester East. You can follow her at www.facebook.com/claudiaforLE and twitter.com/ClaudiaWebbe