(3 Minutes Read) (Global)
This development comes in the wake of earlier reports in the British press suggesting that the UK government sought to implement a scheme similar to its controversial Rwanda initiative in Botswana, Armenia, Ivory Coast, and Costa Rica
Botswana’s foreign minister, Lemogang Kwape, has disclosed in an interview with a TV channel that the British government approached Botswana to receive migrants deported from the UK. It was however not clear the exact timing of this approach.
This development comes in the wake of earlier reports in the British press suggesting that the UK government sought to implement a scheme similar to its controversial Rwanda initiative in Botswana, Armenia, Ivory Coast, and Costa Rica.
Kwape stated that Botswana declined the request. He clarified that the contact was made by Britain’s foreign secretary and minister for Africa through diplomatic channels. It is still not clear when this request was made.
Kwape emphasized that Botswana’s decision was influenced by its immigration challenges. He asserted that the British government did not want people in their country so they wanted to ferry them to a faraway country. He said that Botswana declined the offer citing that the country had its problems to address and the move to accommodate immigrants would add to the existing country-specific and regional issues.
In the meantime, The Rwandan government said it welcomed the decision by the British parliament to approve its migrant deportation bill. The legislation was finally pushed through recently as reported by www.trendsnafrica.com, two years after it was first proposed. Rwanda said that it was ready to receive migrants from the UK.
Human rights organizations have vowed to continue the fight against the policy, which they say is unethical and inhumane. The British Prime Minister said the first flights would leave in July. Britain’s home secretary said that Britain’s newly approved migrant deportation deal with Rwanda was a new and creative deterrent to an old and growing problem. However, he said he took criticism seriously by the U.N. refugee agency that it violates international law.
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Human rights groups have said both deals, forged by conservative governments amid anti-migrant sentiment among voters, violate the rights of migrants that are enshrined in international refugee conventions. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said the UK-Rwanda deal was not compatible with international refugee law” because it uses an asylum model “that undermines global solidarity and the established international refugee protection system.
