UK: Rwanda refugee flight is a 'shameful abandonment' of human rights responsibilities

Responding to news that the UK’s first flight of people seeking asylum is likely to leave for Rwanda tomorrow evening as part of the Government’s highly controversial refugee deal with the central African country, Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said:

“Expelling people seeking asylum to Rwanda – a country with its own asylum and human rights challenges to address - is irresponsible, callous and a disaster in the making.

“This is a desperate and dismal repeat of a now-abandoned deal struck by Israel under which it expelled refugees and people seeking asylum to Rwanda.

“To repeat Israel’s disastrous scheme represents a clear and shameful abandonment of the UK’s responsibility to refugees under the Refugee Convention.

“The UK government is so far removed from reality and lacking in humanity that they are not only destroying the asylum system but also people’s lives.

“We strongly urge the Government to rethink this disastrous plan.”