Hey, if Arsenal FC tell me it’s fine to visit Rwanda it’s good enough for me.
Rwanda has a GDP of £8.8 billion and the deal is £170 million, about 2% of GDP. Of course they’re going to be mad that UK don’t have to pay them.
>”It’s very clear that the debate is hysterical, and we’re getting drawn into it,” Makolo said of this week’s developments. “We know much of it is really not about us because some of these people don’t even know where Rwanda is on the map. It’s really a domestic issue in the U.K., understandably so because it’s a big challenge for them.”
>
>”For Rwandans, there really is no controversy,” Makolo said. “It’s bold, maybe controversial on the U.K. side with the domestic audience. We’re used to welcoming people here. But we also want to show that Africa is also a place of solutions, not of problems.”
>
>”I think we get drawn into this rather unfairly,” Makolo added. “It’s not Rwanda in the dock. We are not on trial here. We are offering a home to people; we’re doing it for the right reasons…Some Rwandans are a little bit surprised that we’ve been attacked in the way that we’ve been attacked in the media.”
>The ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) continued to stifle dissenting and critical voices and to target those perceived as a threat to the government and their family members. The space for political opposition, civil society, and media remained closed. Several high-profile critics, including opposition members and commentators using social media or YouTube to express themselves, went missing, were arrested or threatened. Arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities was commonplace, and fair trial standards were routinely flouted in cases deemed sensitive. There were credible reports of arbitrary detention and mistreatment of people accused of “deviant behaviors,” including street children, sex workers and petty vendors.
I mean. It’s a simple question of “can we trust this country to treat these people safely and with dignity if we offload onto them (a tiny and financially insubstantial percentage of) our responsibility to protect asylum seekers as international law requests we do”, and the second appeal said “no”. Plus having to change several (three IIRC?) of our domestic laws before it would be a legal action.
If Kigali wants to be seen as a safe place to go, maybe they should spend more time making themselves a safe place to be, and less time blustering in newspapers about how they’re being “attacked” in the media.
Rule of law, respect for human rights, etc. this is what the Kagame government finds hysterical. Not shocking given its record.
> “Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary detention; political prisoners or detainees; transnational repression against individuals located outside the country, including killings, kidnappings, and violence; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; serious restrictions on free expression and media, including threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, and censorship; serious restrictions on internet freedom; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including overly restrictive laws on the organization, funding, or operation of nongovernmental and civil society organizations; serious and unreasonable restrictions on political participation; and serious government restrictions on or harassment of domestic and international human rights organizations.” — US State Department
Let’s send all Tory MPs, their families, and the people who vote for them to Rwanda if it’s such a cracking place to be I’m sure they will be over the moon to be heading there.
>Several high-profile critics, including opposition members and commentators using social media or YouTube to express themselves, went missing, were arrested or threatened. Arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities was commonplace, and fair trial standards were routinely flouted in cases deemed sensitive.
Sounds like a model for post human rights UK after our un-elected no-mandate government has its way and gets ECHRxit done.
That title would struggle to be further from the content of the article.
Why the government even wastes time on such projects like Rwanda or some barge for 100 people and its on the news for 2 years when it solves nothing and means nothing… why nobody even tries to start processing the applications to start dealing with the problem…
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Hey, if Arsenal FC tell me it’s fine to visit Rwanda it’s good enough for me.
Rwanda has a GDP of £8.8 billion and the deal is £170 million, about 2% of GDP. Of course they’re going to be mad that UK don’t have to pay them.
>”It’s very clear that the debate is hysterical, and we’re getting drawn into it,” Makolo said of this week’s developments. “We know much of it is really not about us because some of these people don’t even know where Rwanda is on the map. It’s really a domestic issue in the U.K., understandably so because it’s a big challenge for them.”
>
>”For Rwandans, there really is no controversy,” Makolo said. “It’s bold, maybe controversial on the U.K. side with the domestic audience. We’re used to welcoming people here. But we also want to show that Africa is also a place of solutions, not of problems.”
>
>”I think we get drawn into this rather unfairly,” Makolo added. “It’s not Rwanda in the dock. We are not on trial here. We are offering a home to people; we’re doing it for the right reasons…Some Rwandans are a little bit surprised that we’ve been attacked in the way that we’ve been attacked in the media.”
[Meanwhile…](https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/rwanda)
>The ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) continued to stifle dissenting and critical voices and to target those perceived as a threat to the government and their family members. The space for political opposition, civil society, and media remained closed. Several high-profile critics, including opposition members and commentators using social media or YouTube to express themselves, went missing, were arrested or threatened. Arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities was commonplace, and fair trial standards were routinely flouted in cases deemed sensitive. There were credible reports of arbitrary detention and mistreatment of people accused of “deviant behaviors,” including street children, sex workers and petty vendors.
I mean. It’s a simple question of “can we trust this country to treat these people safely and with dignity if we offload onto them (a tiny and financially insubstantial percentage of) our responsibility to protect asylum seekers as international law requests we do”, and the second appeal said “no”. Plus having to change several (three IIRC?) of our domestic laws before it would be a legal action.
If Kigali wants to be seen as a safe place to go, maybe they should spend more time making themselves a safe place to be, and less time blustering in newspapers about how they’re being “attacked” in the media.
Rule of law, respect for human rights, etc. this is what the Kagame government finds hysterical. Not shocking given its record.
> “Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary detention; political prisoners or detainees; transnational repression against individuals located outside the country, including killings, kidnappings, and violence; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; serious restrictions on free expression and media, including threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, and censorship; serious restrictions on internet freedom; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including overly restrictive laws on the organization, funding, or operation of nongovernmental and civil society organizations; serious and unreasonable restrictions on political participation; and serious government restrictions on or harassment of domestic and international human rights organizations.” — US State Department
Rwanda is also de facto at war with the DRC, and even the UK Foreign office ranks the situation as unstable in its travel advice: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/rwanda/safety-and-security
Let’s send all Tory MPs, their families, and the people who vote for them to Rwanda if it’s such a cracking place to be I’m sure they will be over the moon to be heading there.
>Several high-profile critics, including opposition members and commentators using social media or YouTube to express themselves, went missing, were arrested or threatened. Arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities was commonplace, and fair trial standards were routinely flouted in cases deemed sensitive.
Sounds like a model for post human rights UK after our un-elected no-mandate government has its way and gets ECHRxit done.
That title would struggle to be further from the content of the article.
Why the government even wastes time on such projects like Rwanda or some barge for 100 people and its on the news for 2 years when it solves nothing and means nothing… why nobody even tries to start processing the applications to start dealing with the problem…