The country, which has a population of 13 million, has already taken in more than 900 African asylum seekers from Libya since 2019 - under a deal with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the African Union (AU).
They have been housed at Gashora, about 60km (40 miles) from Kigali. The UNHCR says it is not a refugee camp, but an Emergency Transit Mechanism - and more than half of them have already been relocated to Sweden, Canada, Norway, France and Belgium.
The UN site, which has permanent structures, aims to teach those who suffered appalling conditions in Libyan camps, the skills to help them in their new life. The camp has a driving school and offers language classes, amongst other things.
But when Denmark announced last year that it was planning a similar deal to the one the UK has just launched, the AU hit out.
"Such attempts to stem out migration from Africa to Europe is xenophobic and completely unacceptable," it said last August.
Africa already shouldered 85% of the world's refugees "often in protracted situations, whereas only 15% are hosted by developed countries", it said.
"It's all about sending a deterrent to asylum seekers… anyone who is trying to flee repression in Africa is going to be horrified at being sent to Rwanda," she said.
Unlike the UNHCR project, details being released of the UK scheme suggest asylum seekers would be in Rwanda for longer - "so that they can resettle and thrive", as the home secretary put it.
It is not clear how many people Rwanda is expecting to accept, given it is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa but UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it would take "tens of thousands in the years ahead".
Long article, definitely not painting an all rosy and light picture of Rwanda.
No idea about the conditions in Rwanda, but the ever-increasing numbers of economic migrants coming to the UK is not sustainable. Refugees, yes we SHOULD take our share, but refugees normally come in all ages and both sexes. And they don't arrive from a country 5000 miles away, they cross the first border and become a refugee at that point. Most genuine refugees are happy to have escaped, of course they have a preference for the country they would like to go to, but they will usually be content with an alternative. If you have been bombed out of Mariupol you might prefer England, but will probably settle for France, or Germany, or almost anywhere unless you have family in England.
Many (most?) of the people crossing the Channel are from many 1000s of miles away, have passed through multiple countries (or flown over them in aeroplanes) and are more often than not single, male and in their late teens/early 20s. They are economic migrants, IME quite often from a country other than that they claim to come from, eg from Kenya or Uganda but claiming to be Somali. Making it very clear to them that they will not be able to 'disappear' into the UK if they are refused asylum will be a serious deterrent. Personally I think we have places closer that Rwanda we could use, St Kilda comes to mind. The logistics are formidable (and probably beyond G4S), but not many would escape.
Mr. Dazzle wrote: ↑Sat Apr 16, 2022 12:09 pm
I see Priti Patel basically used her Ministerial JFDI prerogative to get this scheme in place. So now she's officially taken responsibility for it.
Let's see if that sticks.
I rather doubt it. A characteristic of most current Ministers is Teflon shoulders if anything goes Pete Tong. However if it goes well the Teflon converts to Velcro.
Cousin Jack wrote: ↑Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:10 am
No idea about the conditions in Rwanda, but the ever-increasing numbers of economic migrants coming to the UK is not sustainable. Refugees, yes we SHOULD take our share, but refugees normally come in all ages and both sexes. And they don't arrive from a country 5000 miles away, they cross the first border and become a refugee at that point. Most genuine refugees are happy to have escaped, of course they have a preference for the country they would like to go to, but they will usually be content with an alternative. If you have been bombed out of Mariupol you might prefer England, but will probably settle for France, or Germany, or almost anywhere unless you have family in England.
Many (most?) of the people crossing the Channel are from many 1000s of miles away, have passed through multiple countries (or flown over them in aeroplanes) and are more often than not single, male and in their late teens/early 20s. They are economic migrants, IME quite often from a country other than that they claim to come from, eg from Kenya or Uganda but claiming to be Somali. Making it very clear to them that they will not be able to 'disappear' into the UK if they are refused asylum will be a serious deterrent. Personally I think we have places closer that Rwanda we could use, St Kilda comes to mind. The logistics are formidable (and probably beyond G4S), but not many would escape.
You just gotta love the arrogance of Justin Welby who evidently labours under the illusion that he has a hotline to some celestial being.
irie wrote: ↑Sat Apr 16, 2022 10:55 pm
You just gotta love the arrogance of Justin Welby who evidently labours under the illusion that he has a hotline to some celestial being.
Cousin Jack wrote: ↑Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:24 pm
God obviously loves people smugglers who extract £000s for a 'safe' passage to the UK from gullible people in poor countries.
The trick is to get Russian oligarchs to pay £0000's in party donations to get into the country when they want to hide their money in London property.
irie wrote: ↑Sat Apr 16, 2022 10:55 pm
You just gotta love the arrogance of Justin Welby who evidently labours under the illusion that he has a hotline to some celestial being.
Cousin Jack wrote: ↑Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:24 pm
God obviously loves people smugglers who extract £000s for a 'safe' passage to the UK from gullible people in poor countries.
I can't remember the exact passages (and I'm not going looking) but didn't the G~d thing say slavery was OK?
We were last Monday thank fuck. Few in the supermarkets still have them on but that is there choice. The amount of people who have had or got seems more in the last month or so than before but everyone i talk to say just a cold. Sniffles, Odd soar head, a tad weak and tired but all bounce back soon enough. At least 5 of my customers in there 80's have had it also and say the same. I am starting to feel left out not having it now.