The UN refugee agency has been accused of "undermining Rwanda’s welcoming policy” and lying in its latest attempt to block Britain’s plan to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda.
"UNHCR is lying,” the Government of Rwanda said late Tuesday in response to Monday’s submissions by the UN agency to U. K’s High Court that it was investigating new allegations Rwanda had endangered asylum seekers.
"The organisation seems intent on presenting fabricated allegations to U.K. courts about Rwanda’s treatment of asylum seekers, while still partnering with us to bring African migrants from Libya to safety in Rwanda through the Emergency Transit Mechanism,” Kigali said in a statement.
The Rwandan government was referring to an ongoing UNHCR-backed scheme under which more than 2000 asylum seekers have been evacuated from Libya and airlifted to safety in Rwanda since 2019.
Surprise opponents to Rwanda-UK migration ties
The latest group to arrive came in March, comprising of more than 90 people. Many of the ‘Libya migrants’ have since been processed in Kigali, with at least 1,600 of them already relocated to third countries in the west.
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UNHCR emerged as a surprise opponent to an unprecedented migration partnership between Rwanda and the U.K, first signed in April 2022, under which the latter would deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda.
Rwanda and the U.K later reinforced the partnership with additional guarantees and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has aggressively defended the deal, insisting Rwanda was safe for asylum seekers. The U.K prime minister has in recent months made significant steps towards ensuring the first flight of migrants depart to Rwanda in July, and the UNHCR’s latest intervention is widely seen as a desperate last-ditch effort to derail anticipated breakthrough in the UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership.
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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees claims there is fresh evidence Rwanda potentially violated the rights of asylum-seekers by sending them to countries where they risked torture. It also claims Kigali denied "access to the asylum procedure to asylum seekers” in recent months.
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But Rwanda has rejected these claims, offering examples of some of the cases – which were handled judiciously – that the UN agency might be referring to.
‘Unserious allegations’
"Our understanding is that one of the cases that the UNCHR has referred to relates to a man who was denied asylum in the Seychelles,” the statement says.
"Following this judgement, the UNHCR in South Africa unilaterally decided he should be given asylum in Rwanda. The Government of Rwanda was neither consulted prior to this decision, nor have we had any contact from the UNHCR about this case since.”
The statement, released by the Office of Government Spokesperson, adds, "This is just one in a series of wholly unserious allegations that have been levelled against us by the UNHCR.
"Another absurd claim was that Rwanda was denying asylum to a group of Burundians – who in fact did not ever claim asylum but instead were found to have breached Rwandan immigration laws.”
This is made all the more ridiculous when you consider the fact that Rwanda currently provides refuge to tens of thousands of our Burundian neighbours who have sought safety in our country, the statement adds.
‘Rwanda does not refoule asylum seekers’
The government also cited "other false allegations (relating) to people with legal status in other countries arriving in Rwanda, neither meeting our entry requirements for visitors nor claiming asylum, or people leaving Rwanda entirely of their own volition.”
"These are not examples of refoulement. As we have said time and again, Rwanda does not refoule asylum seekers,” the statement reads in part, adding, "the UNHCR seems intent on undermining the safety of Rwanda within U.K. courts.”
Refoulement is when an asylum seeker is forcibly removed from a country and returned to a country where they are likely to face persecution.
"Rwanda remains committed to upholding all of our obligations as signatories to the refugee convention,” the government said in the statement. "We will continue to provide safety and opportunity to those fleeing conflict, as we have done for the last thirty years.”
UNHCR has until June 28 to furnish court with evidence of their latest allegations.
Rwanda has been home to tens of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers for more than 20 years, with UNHCR records showing at least 135,000 refugees – mostly from DR Congo and Burundi – as of September last year.