Good article on the difficulty of bringing Rwanda and its officials to justice over its involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Rwanda under dictator Paul Kagame has consistently refused the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) making it impossible to try any cases. #Rwanda#DRC#M23#ICJ#ICC
Rwanda’s role in eastern DRC conflict: why international law is failing to end the fighting https://theconversation.com/rwandas-role-in-eastern-drc-conflict-why-international-law-is-failing-to-end-the-fighting-229731
The Rwandan government has barred Clementine de Montjoye, a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Africa division, from entering the country, prompting accusations that officials are seeking to dodge independent scrutiny just weeks before the UK government is due to send asylum seekers there for the first time.
Home Office officials fear the number of migrants deported on the first Rwanda flight could be in single figures because of legal challenges.
The concerns are believed to be behind moves to expand the scheme to include ALL failed asylum seekers on top of the initial cohort of 5,700 migrants so far earmarked for deportation.
Given Rwanda only has room for a few hundred currently, this is arrant nonsense and performative cruelty.
"The denial of entry reflects the authorities’ intensifying assault on human rights, months ahead of the country’s 2024 general elections, Human Rights Watch said."
Stuart Skeates, the head of the Home Office section that detains and processes asylum seekers for deportation, has halted recruitment and is drawing up plans for staff cuts after demands from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
Skeates wrote in an email to staff that he was “incredibly proud” of preparations for “the first flights to Rwanda commencement of the illegal Migration Act Duty to Remove provisions”.
The Northern Ireland Judge, Mr Justice Micheal Humphreys, ruled yesterday that the #Rwanda Safety Act and the deportation of #Refugess is incompatible with three prior legal standards and acts:
The b@stards at the #HomeOffice issued new guidance yesterday on detaining asylum seekers for deportation to #Rwanda.
You can be forcibly sent to Rwanda if your asylum claim has been refused, withdrawn, or treated as withdrawn (which catches anyone in hiding or not turning up to sign on).
However, now you can be detained if you have no ongoing claims or appeals, which catches anyone in the process of appealing but whose solicitors have not yet filed the claim.
" ... it seems clear – to me, at least – that both Labour and the Conservatives are in the narrative business, as distinct from the business of good governance"
Northern Ireland is now a sanctuary for migrants in fear of the Tories' Rwanda deportation policy.
The High Court of Northern Ireland has struck down key elements of UK Illegal Migration Act, as incompatible with the Windsor Agreement between the EU & UK.
It also ruled that other aspects remain incompatible with the ECHR.
So, those migrants who might have skipped over the border to the RoI, now can remain in NI from where it would seem they now cannot be deported.
The Republic of Congo has granted more than 22,000 hectares of agricultural land to Rwanda for a period of 25 years. An agreement that is starting to face increasing criticism from Congolese citizens. Dave Mafoula, an unsuccessful candidate in the 2021 presidential election, calls on his fellow citizens not to accept "things...
Civil servants have been instructed that they should obey ministers, but their union is challenging this because it claims this would be a breach of the Civil Service code, a code which requires officials to act in accordance with international law.
"Keir Starmer will promise to rip up the government’s Rwanda scheme and divert £75m to fund hundreds of new specialist officers to tackle people-smuggling with new counter-terror powers"
Oh FFS. Divert £75m into safe routes, and THAT will stop the people smugglers, you sad power fetishist.
Whatever you think of them, people smugglers are not terrorists. They are organised criminals who will move on to the next opportunity when this income dries up.
It looks like the Tories were using the awful Rwanda detentions as a cynical election ploy in local election week, with the media in on it.
Contacts at Loughborough reporting centre say there have been no detentions at all of asylum seekers reporting for bail so far this week. Apparently, the same is happening in London.
If this is true, it's an absolute disgrace to use vulnerable people in this way.
Meanwhile, others live in fear.
The Home Office is dealing with growing fallout as asylum seekers go into hiding or flee across the border to Ireland.
Predictable and ineffective:
"I was an asylum seeker in 2020 when the Home Office was trying to deport as many asylum seekers as possible to European countries they had passed through before Brexit started. Some asylum seekers went into hiding then & I can see that it is happening again because of Rwanda”
"The United States strongly condemns the attack (Friday) from Rwanda Defense Forces and M23 positions on the Mugunga camp for internally displaced persons in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement"
Good old Rwanda, that very safe country ( because the UK says so). Of course, the UK won't condemn this, as it's part of the Rwanda deportation deal not to.
Decent article on the climate of fear produced by the disgusting Home Office Rwanda deportation detentions. Of course, the rightwing media is cockahoop.
"The people detained have not had their asylum claims processed, and it’s clear from the first cohort we are in contact with that if their claims were processed they would likely be granted refugee status in the UK.
It reaffirms how shameful the Rwanda plan is and why it must be stopped.”
Heather Marwood, Head of Legal Services, Care4Calais
"Ms Cheema said all the charity workers she had spoken to had been "at the verge of tears for the last few weeks".
"We don't know how best to support people," she added. "They are people who've done nothing wrong, they've committed no offences. They've been met with people banging down their doors, with detention"
An asylum seeker called Ahmed was interviewed on C4 News. He served with the British forces in Afghanistan, but was rejected by the ARAP scheme and has now had a Rwanda letter.
He has started a petition calling on the PM to abandon the Rwanda plan and create safe, organised routes to claim asylum once and for all.
It has 52k signatures and he has asked that it be shared.
In Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, Congolese protest following Sassou Nguesso's ceding of part of their land to Rwanda. (www.digitalcongo.net)
The Republic of Congo has granted more than 22,000 hectares of agricultural land to Rwanda for a period of 25 years. An agreement that is starting to face increasing criticism from Congolese citizens. Dave Mafoula, an unsuccessful candidate in the 2021 presidential election, calls on his fellow citizens not to accept "things...