Denmark and the United Kingdom will “outsource” their asylum centers. Rwanda will take over.
Seven small boats left the French coast on Tuesday. There were 263 immigrants in them. The course is set for the British Isles. The distance at its narrowest is only 20 kilometers.
The trip is common. This year, he writes, nearly 6,700 immigrants set out on the journey daily Mail. Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to put an end to this. He wants to send immigrants coming to Britain directly to Rwanda. The country is located in Central Africa and is among the poorest countries in the world. Johnson wants asylum seekers to remain at the reception while their asylum application to the UK is being processed.
The plan encountered opposition. But the Danish government is not among the critical voices. exactly the contrary. They also identified the central African country as a suitable place to “outsource” asylum centers.
Follow in the footsteps of Israel
– Danish Immigration Minister Matthias Tesfaye said that our dialogue with the authorities in Rwanda includes a mechanism for the transfer of asylum seekers. mentioned Reuters Wednesday.
The news is not a complete surprise. Already in June last year, Folketing decided to transfer asylum centers from Denmark to an African country.
Then FrP leader Sylvie Lestaug said that her party want the same.
Israel also tried. Between 2014 and 2017, they sent several thousand asylum seekers to Rwanda. Almost everyone ended up with human traffickers or slavery. He writes Foreign Policy. Then Israel abandoned the plan.
But Britain now wants to try again. Boris Johnson wrote last week that Rwanda will take full responsibility for asylum seekers in the UK BBC.
The UK is paying 120 million pounds, or about 1.4 billion pounds, for this service. The scheme will initially run for five years, and will mainly address unmarried immigrants and young adults.
In a speech on Thursday, April 14, to announce the Rwanda plan, Johnson said Rwanda has the potential to resettle tens of thousands of people in the coming years. NTB reported.
The speech was given in Dover. The British port city is where many immigrants first land on British soil.
Notorious countries
Johnson believes that Rwanda will be a safe and good place to stay for migrants and refugees.
But more doubt. Torture and ill-treatment are common in Rwandan prisons. She has a human rights organization Human Rights Watch Documented. Many of them were imprisoned for opposing the authoritarian regime of President Paul Kagame.
Abandoning our responsibility, even to a country that wants to do good, like Rwanda, is the opposite of God’s nature. This is what the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said in his Easter Sunday sermon, Watchman.
He is afraid of the domino effect.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, fears this will become a trend.
It’s a serious risk that could lead to a domino effect, Elizabeth Arnsdorf Haslund tells Aftenposten. She is the spokesperson for UNHCR in Denmark.
– It could undermine the international protection system.
Haslund believes Denmark’s plan may also violate international practices for the treatment of migrants and refugees.
she points Global Compact on Refugees. The framework was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018. Among other things, states themselves have committed themselves to equitably allocating responsibility for refugees.
Haslund believes that Denmark’s plan for Rwanda runs counter to this framework.
– Stresses that working together for greater solidarity and the division of responsibilities runs counter to the obligations of the international community, including those of Denmark.
Aftenposten contacted the Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration. They have not yet commented on criticism.
Nor has Norway’s Ministry of Justice and Emergency Management yet commented on how they view the Danes’ plan.
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