After months of legal battle, the British Parliament finally adopted a bill authorizing the return of illegal immigrants to Rwanda. This decision, presented in April 2022 by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, praised Rwanda for its reception and integration of migrants.
Despite controversies and a temporary suspension by the European Court of Human Rights in June 2022, British MPs have maintained their position. On the night of Monday to Tuesday, they voted in favor of this law allowing London to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda.
Despite Rishi Sunak's assurance that flights to Rwanda will take place, the application of this law remains uncertain, with the possibility of future interventions from the European Court of Human Rights and the British Supreme Court, which had already deemed the initial project illegal last November.
For years, Kigali has presented itself as a refuge for exiles, notably hosting the resettlement program for refugees from Libya since 2019. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Rwanda hosted approximately 135,000 refugees and asylum seekers in September 2023. However, the UK Parliament's decision to forcibly relocate immigrants thousands of miles from their original destination is widely seen as a political communications strategy.
For London, the objective is to show its firmness in the face of illegal immigration, which has seen an increase of more than 20% since the start of the year, with five people drowning, including a 7-year-old girl, in trying to cross the Channel this Tuesday. However, of the approximately 30,000 people who managed to reach the country in 2023, few would actually be affected by relocation to Rwanda.
In summer 2022, Kigali had promoted its renovated hotels as part of this operation, but a June 2022 Telegraph report revealed that refugees lacked basic resources such as food, housing and healthcare.
Furthermore, rebuilding their lives in a country with almost 20% unemployment promises to be difficult. Especially since London promised 144 million euros to Kigali. |
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