What do you think about asylum seekers being sent to Rwanda?

[lurkinglittleladybug]

Just seen on the news that some of the asylum seekers arriving here on boats will be sent to Rwanda…

Do you think this will discourage people from making the dangerous journey across the channel? Is this the answer?

Im not sure what to think about it, seems a bit random… Why Rwanda?

But I guess something needs to be done to discourage people from paying these criminal gangs to set them up with unsafe boats with the intention of coming to the UK… What does everyone else think about this?

I don’t read The Guardian, as it goes. I’m also working class, granted I’ve had an education.

I am comfortable in my assertion that people who take their learning from The Sun, The Daily and Facebook chain posts are not the intellectual powerhouses of society.

How come?

I think when I first heard about this I assumed we'd had an influx of bogus immigration applications from Rwandans, in which case the policy might make quite a lot of sense. My assumptions obviously proved wrong.

Don't get me wrong there are other policies I would prefer they would all act as a deterrent to crossing. But Mumsnet probably won't let me post them (because it's their site and they are pretty left wing).

I can name quite a few posters who I can guarantee will be on this thread soon, a couple of the usuals are here already I see.

Where do I sign up for a ticket? Always wanted to visit Rwanda :)

Nope. It's the fact it doesn't work and has been problematic to the countries who tried it.

Ironically I think it’s attitudes similar to the card factory comment that made brexit happen. Shutting people down, calling them thick and being a general snob won’t endear them to your views, if anything they’ll get more set in their views and we all become more polarised.

We need to give Asylum seekers a legal route to seeking Asylum that doesn't involve them actually being on British soil!

That would stop it - but god forbid we deal with people in a fair & just way!

Why are people racists for having concerns about immigration? It's a genuine concern in regards to lack of school places, lack of dentists, NHS already under immense strain etc.

It’s not ironic - people will always react and show themselves for what they are.

I.think its a great idea.

Am I a misfit? I'm against the Rwanda policy and I buy my cards at the card factory because it is the cheapest place I know to get them.

Due to appeal or other?

And it's amazing how many of these so called "intelligent" people haven't worked that out.

As a lesbian myself, I'm especially worried about gay asylum seekers. Homosexuality was only decriminalised in Rwanda in 2010, and discrimination against gay people is still legal. The Foreign Office warns that gay travellers may be abused, including by authorities there. There are reports that gay people in Rwanda have been arbitrarily detained and beaten by police for going against "Rwandan values". Even the Home Office itself has acknowledged that gay asylum seekers may face "ill treatment".

Of course some supporters of the policy may see this as a benefit. Asylum seekers being not only shipped away but also abused there probably sounds great to some hardliners. But to anyone who has an inch of humanity, surely this doesn't sound acceptable.

It's barbaric and regressive.
Having said that, I don't know the answer.
Do I need to know the answer though.
My racist family used to ask what a better alternative was for things like that and I thought I had to know.
I don't.

I was really against it until one of the people who had been on the flight did an interview. He said if he had known about the deal, he wouldn't have come on the boat. That tells me he didn't actually need to come on the boat for safety, he came onto it for economic reasons. It makes me livid that people are putting babies on boats for this. France is safe, theres no reason to be putting the lives of innocent babies and children at such massive risk. I understood the ones in Greece, but these parents should hang their heads in shame and be trialled for murder if they survive.
Economic migration is a fair reason, and we need routes for this, it makes me so angry there's so few routes, but that is madness.

The UK essentially abuses it's position of being an island and doesn't provide a route to claim asylum any other way. The French are sick of them all so I don't blame them for not really doing much to stop the boats.
It's a sick situation and I hope that the Rwanda deal breaks these gangs up quickly so not many flights actually take place.

I'm not a fan of the plan, however I've wondered this too. How is it not racist to express the views about Rwanda that have been expressed in relation to this plan? It's a country that's up and coming and needs more migrants to help it to properly thrive.

I doubt it will ever happen and the ones that should be removed will come over and not be detected....our little high street has been taken over by Albanian money laundering fronts, cafes and shops with no customers, just all young albanian men chain smoking and looking mean....their expensive audi and mercedes souped up cars all lined up on the streets !..my Kosovan friend told me they are probably on fake Greek or Italian passports etc or come over and totally bypass the asylum route, just dissapear......

Cruel, expensive, designed to appeal to the nastiest right-wing faction of Tory voters. Highly unlikely to result in many, if any, asylum seekers actually being sent there.

Also pointless. Immigration is only set to rise, especially with the climate crisis. Let the Tory Party and the Reform Party split the votes of the bigoted while Labour and the rest get on with coming up with a fair way to treat the inevitable increase in those seeking asylum.

I think it has more to do with the fact that Rwanda has a very recent history of appalling treatment of refugees, has been criticised by the UN, the UK's own foreign office says it is unsafe and we take refugees from Rwanda on the basis that the government is prone to persecuting its own citizens.

IIRC the Home Office's response to the foreign office's risk assessment on Rwanda being unsafe was something along the lines of 'they are a different department we've done our own risk assessment and decided it's safe'. So we are in the rather embarrassing position of 2 different departments of the same government having 2 RAs with entirely conflicting conclusions.

I'm sure it's a beautiful place if you want to go on holiday. But it's probably less so if you are a citizen or refugee being persecuted or tortured.

It's isn't racist to suggest that Rwanda isn't a preferred place to live. Estimates are about 40% of their population are undernourished. They are experiencing increasing climate related disasters of drought, floods, landslides etc like most of east Africa, causing soil and water quality problems, which won't helo the hunger issue. Deaths from malaria and aids are really high. They are in conflict with the DRC which is worrying.

It makes me ashamed.

As do the "small country, can't get a dentists appointment crew" upthread.

Re Albanians not sure if I heard it correctly but I think there’s now an arrangement that they return to Albania as a safe country