We, African Rainbow Family, are appalled at the decision that has been reached by the UK Parliament (“the Parliament”) yesterday.
The passage of the Safety of Rwanda Bill by the Parliament now deems that Rwanda is a safe country for the Home Office to deport those who are seeking asylum to, where facts have point to the contrary, neglects not only basic human compassion, but also the fundamental right to seek asylum in the UK. The right to seek asylum is a guaranteed right for people fleeing persecution from other countries, as established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 14), of which the United Kingdom is a signatory. This decision, additionally, clandestinely ends the UK’s obligations towards the UNCHR Convention established by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1950.
We urge you to sign and share our No Pride in Deportation petition now! Support us in protecting those that we support from being deported under this cruel (un)Safety Rwanda Policy!
To continue our much needed and life-saving work with LGBTIQ people seeking asylum, please donate to our cause here.
We ask you to support us in protecting LGBTIQ+ people seeking asylum from the imminent dangers of deportation to Rwanda, where they will be subjected to a hostile environment that condemns them to continued suffering, including exile, physical harm, emotional trauma, abuse, isolation, torture and possibly death. Read more on our campaign, and the multitude of reasons as to why deportation is an inadequate and inhumane solution by clicking here.
We are particularly concerned with the UK’s abdication of her human rights obligations through the inadmissibility of asylum application approach. The UNHCR has said that the Bill, which is now passed into law “would amount to an asylum ban” as it would effectively end “the right to seek refugee protection in the United Kingdom for those who arrive irregularly, no matter how compelling their claim may be.”
As defined on this UK Parliament website, ‘a person who claims asylum has the legal right to remain in the UK while their application is considered.’ In this regard, the Safety of Rwanda Act voted for yesterday is both disappointing by definition and inhumane in character.
Aderonke Apata, Founder and CEO of African Rainbow Family says:
“This (un)Safety Rwanda Policy sets a bad precedent as it effectively opens the flood gates to other European countries and globally, to enact similar policies regarding the deportation of people seeking asylum and sending LGBTIQ+ people seeking sanctuary back to their persecutors. This is giving legitimacy to the UK Government’s carrying out ‘authorised’ human trafficking of the most vulnerable people within our society.” Aderonke continues.
The mere concept of being deported to Rwanda to our service users, who are LGBTIQ+, is frightening and has inflicted a high degree of mental health issues and emotional suffering upon them. KA, one of our service users, tragically shared the following in response to the Rwanda policy in a 2022 media interview:
“I will kill myself here [UK] instead of going to Rwanda.”
(Please watch the interview here)
The 2023 Illegal Migration Act declares that:
‘Those who arrive in the UK illegally will not be able to stay here and will instead be detained and then promptly removed, either to their home country or a safe third country’.
The reality of life in Rwanda is in blatant opposition to this government’s (un)Safety Rwanda Policy, which describes Rwanda as a safe third country. Reports from Human Rights Watch demonstrate that LGBTIQ+ people are frequently detained, beaten and harassed by officials in Rwanda. This UK.GOV website itself declares that LGBTIQ+ people are subject to discrimination and abuse from both local authorities and citizens in Rwanda, while adding that there are no anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBTIQ+ people in the country. The UK Supreme Court in November 2023 ruled that the Rwanda Policy is unlawful.
Indeed, we have previously, and do currently have service users that have been forced to flee to the UK from Rwanda due to the persecution they face as LGBTIQ+ people in Rwanda. To send them, or anyone else who is LGBTIQ+, to Rwanda, is a violation of their Human Right to Liberty and Security. (Read about our Rwanda Bill Protest here, and our position on the Supreme Court decision in November 2023).
Further, according to the Equality Impact Assessment of the UK Government on their Rwanda policy, there is evidence of ill treatment towards homosexuals in Rwanda on a recurring basis, particularly, with respect to people who have undergone or are undergoing gender reassignment. Thus, UK Parliament’s verdict sends a message of disregard to the LGBTIQ+ people of the United Kingdom. By permitting members of our community to be deported to a place that puts them in danger because of their sexual orientation and gender identities, there is no clearer way to say that the protection of LGBTIQ+ people is a non-issue to the UK government.
Furthermore, we are concerned about the lack of oversights in this process. There is high likelihood of more trafficking cases emerging, the racist nature of the (un)Safety of Rwanda Policy, people becoming re-traumatised with torture, the lack of access to health care services and children being mis-aged to be adults and detained. The lack of access to justice – legal advice and the inability of people to enforce their rights on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the UK and Rwandan governments are troubling.
Additionally, recent news has revealed that the UK-funded accommodation built in Rwanda to house those that would be deported there have largely been sold to locals. This bears the question as to where those who would deported there will even be housed upon arrival. Beyond the lack of housing, a recent article from The Independent reports that the Rwanda scheme is projected to drain as much as £5 billion of tax-payer money in the first five years. To crown it all, The Guardian and The Telegraph recently reported that the ‘Rwanda’s state-owned airline [RwandAir] has turned down a request to use its planes for UK deportations’ amidst concerns ‘of the potential damage to their brand.’ Each of these articles provides context into the ludicrous extremes, wastefulness, discomfort and suffering that the (un)Safety of Rwanda Policy will enact upon all those involved.
The decision made by the Parliament yesterday is an affront to the rights of people seeking asylum as a whole, but especially to those who identify as LGBTIQ+.
We strongly urge the Home Secretary, James Cleverly, to apply scrutiny, be humane and follow the government’s own guidance in relation to the safety of LGBTIQ+ people while enacting this (un)Safety of Rwanda Policy.
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For Media Request: Adeniyi Balogun, 07398742939 info@africanrainbowfamily.org; or Rohan Williams, 07711 285 567 rohan.williams@africanrainbowfamily.org