Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

2 min read
17 March 2023 | 21:50 CAT

United Kingdom Interior Minister Suella Braverman is set to visit Rwanda this weekend to discuss an agreement involving the UK relocating undocumented refugees and migrants to Rwanda.

United Kingdom Interior Minister Suella Braverman Picture credit: Market Screener

Last year, the UK agreed to send thousands of people away to Rwanda as part of a $146m deal, however, there has been no flights have taken off as the opposition tries to challenge the policy in the courts.

The deal with Rwanda is part of Britain’s plans to detain and deport asylum seekers arriving illegally in small boats across the English Channel.

Braverman says she will meet Rwandan President Paul Kagame during the visit, saying that the move to send migrants and refugees to Rwanda will be put in motion soon.

“I am visiting Rwanda this weekend to reinforce the government’s commitment to the partnership as part of our plan to stop the boats and discuss plans to operationalise our agreement shortly,” says Braverman in a statement.

The partnership was initially announced in April 2022, however the first scheduled deportation flight was halted by an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights.

With London’s High Court ruling the move as unlawful in December last year. Judges cited that the government failed to consider the individual circumstances of the people it wants deport.

Several asylum seekers, aid groups and a border officials’ union have also filed lawsuits to stop the Conservative Party government from acting on a deportation agreement with Rwanda.

While opposition parties and charities have described the plan as unethical and unworkable, saying the plan – known as the Illegal Migration Bill – criminalises the efforts of thousands of refugees.