British home secretary defends deporting migrants to Rwanda

Britain's Home Secretary Suella Braverman says she is convinced Rwanda is a safe country to deport migrants who arrived in Britain illegally.

That is despite evidence that 12 Congolese refugees were shot dead by police there in 2018.

During the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Braverman was presented with evidence from the United Nations refugee agency that a group of Congolese refugees were shot during protests over cuts to food rations.

After being shown a video of the aftermath, the home secretary said, "That might be 2018, we're looking at 2023 and beyond."

She said Rwanda has "a track record of successfully resettling and integrating people who are refugees or asylum seekers."

Braverman said the UK High Court had found Rwanda to be safe, but she acknowledged the plans were still facing a legal challenge. "The High Court, senior expert judges, have looked into the detail of our arrangement with Rwanda and found it to be a safe country and found our arrangements to be lawful."

In December 2022, the UK High Court ruled in favor of the British government’s controversial policy to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda, ignoring the criticisms by human right groups who depict the plan as inhumane. But opponents are seeking to appeal that ruling.

The British government is hoping to send thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles away to the African country as part of a deal to deter asylum seekers crossing the English Channel from France in small boats.

Under the government's proposals, people who arrive in the UK through illegal routes could be sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket to claim asylum there.

MG