U.K. Plans To Start Shipping Refugees to Rwanda

UKPhoenix79, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What is going on the UK? Just days ago we were talking about the UK’s plans to strip individuals of their citizenship without notice. Now, as the BBC reports, the U.K. is about the launch a pilot program whereby asylum seekers will be shipped to Rwanda, RWANDA (!!), in order to seek U.K. asylum from that nation.

The pilot program will apply only to single men crossing into the U.K. on boats or trucks.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson states the program will “save countless lives” and put an end to human trafficking rings.

Here is a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding between the U.K. and Rwanda. It is: “For the Provision of an Asylum Partnership Arrangement to strengthen shared international commitments on the protection of refugees and migrants.”

There are a few excellent Twitter threads on this topic. This one focuses on the legal status of the MOU, which, by its terms, “will not be binding in international law.” And this one talks about the MOU as the result of “ministerial direction” by the Home Secretary over objections from Home Office.

The program is not yet up and running but, clearly, it will be soon. And we’ll have to wait and see how it plays out in practice.

-KitJ