The Financial Challenges of the UK’s Plan to Send Rejected Asylum Seekers to Rwanda

The UK’s controversial plan to send rejected asylum seekers to Rwanda, an African country 6,500 kilometers from London, is not financially easy to carry out.

costs

According to an impact assessment published on Tuesday by the government itself, the cost would be around 169,000 pounds, that is, 210,000 dollars per person.

The conservative executive of Rishi Sunak affirms that he would still save thanks to the cut in aid to asylum seekers. – Photo: Reuters / Leon Neal/Pool

The conservative executive of Rishi Sunak affirms that he would still save thanks to the cut in aid to asylum seekers.

immigration

Like his predecessors Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, Sunak, the grandson of Indian immigrants, makes it a priority to reduce immigration to the UK, one of the great promises of Brexit.

Like his predecessors Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, Sunak, the grandson of Indian immigrants, makes it a priority to reduce immigration to the UK, one of the great promises of Brexit. – Photo: REUTERS

His government wants to make asylum claims illegal for those arriving in the country irregularly and send those people to “safe” third countries, such as Rwanda.

An impact assessment published on Tuesday by the Home Office says the initial cost of moving a person to a third country would be around £169,000, including a £105,000 payment to that country, plane tickets and administrative costs. .

But he predicts aid savings over four years of £106,000 for each transferred asylum seeker, which could rise to £165,000 if accommodation costs grow at the rate seen since 2019.

The report specifies, however, that these are “very uncertain” figures and that the plan should deter 37% of current irregulars to achieve savings.

The plan

With this controversial program, the British government seeks to discourage migrants from crossing irregularly in small boats from the coasts of France, one of the most dangerous routes in the world due to its large cargo traffic, whose numbers have skyrocketed in recent years.

More than 45,000 migrants arrived irregularly on English shores in 2022, an increase of 60% compared to 2021. – Photo: REUTERS

More than 45,000 migrants arrived irregularly on English shores in 2022, an increase of 60% compared to 2021.

The bill, which is being debated in Parliament, was criticized for the possible treatment that asylum seekers would receive in Rwanda.

“It would leave tens of thousands of refugees unable to access the protection to which they are entitled under international law,” said Enver Solomon, director of the Refugee Council.

The plan, announced by Johnson last year, was blocked at the last minute by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and remains embroiled in legal proceedings in the UK, so no one has been deported so far. London judges must rule on its legality next Thursday.

In December 2022, after several days of deliberation, the High Court of England and Wales came to declare that the agreement reached between the Rwandan authorities by the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and defended by Sunak is legal.

The first plane, which had been chartered to launch the controversial policy, was stopped on the ground in June 2022, by the European Court of Human Rights.

Human rights advocates accuse Rwanda, ruled with an iron fist by President Paul Kagame since the 1994 genocide that killed 800,000 people, of suppressing free expression and opposition.

*With information from AFP.

2023-06-27 17:32:46
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