James Cleverly said he has “a very high degree of confidence” that Rwanda will abide by the terms of its migration treaty with the UK.
The foreign secretary was questioned by peers on the International Agreements Committee on Tuesday about the treaty he signed in Kigali two weeks ago on relocating the UK’s illegal immigrants, including asylum seekers, to Rwanda.
Asked about how satisfied he is that Rwanda would abide by the new commitments, including treating relocated individuals according to international law and not sending them elsewhere, Mr. Cleverly told the committee that he’s reassured by the strength of a treaty, saying it “has a stronger legal underpinning” than the MoU and agreements that “others have with Rwanda, including the UNHCR,” the U.N. refugee agency.”
He added that Rwanda has a “reputational incentive” to make it work.
Ministers in Kigali “are very keen for Rwanda to be seen as a country which is helping to solve problems, in a continent which sadly has a reputation for exporting problems, so they really want this to work,” he said.
Asked whether resources are in place to deliver the “long list” of promises, such as the provision of accommodation and food, Mr. Cleverly said he has “a very high degree of confidence that Rwanda will abide by this.”
The foreign secretary said the Danish and the U.S. governments are looking at offshore asylum processing and re-homing, and Rwanda is aware that “much of the world is watching.”
“Everyone’s gonna be marking their homework, and therefore, they have every incentive to make sure they abide by their commitments and are seen to abide by those commitments.”
The treaty, which includes some “fundamental changes” to Rwanda’s asylum system, will need to be ratified in Rwanda.
“I am absolutely confident that the elements of the treaty will be in place, and they'll be very visible. There’s no way of hiding; there’s no way that the Rwandans can hide.”
Mr. Cleverly could not provide a time frame on processes, such as when international judges would be recruited and trained. He told the committee he would “do a sweep up” of the progress to date when speaking with the Rwandan government in the New Year.
He defended the government’s decision to press ahead instead of waiting, saying “all the time that we might otherwise want to wait, criminal gangs are still playing their evil trade.”
The foreign secretary said he wants to send a “credible deterrent message” to people smuggling gangs who would want to “use the better weather to try and smuggle people across the [English] Channel” in spring, but rejected the claims that the Rwanda policy “alone” will prevent channel crossing.
Under the UK-Rwanda treaty, “a portion of Rwanda’s most vulnerable refugees” will be resettled in the UK.
Mr. Cleverly said he expects the number to be “tiny numbers, like single digits of people.”
Providing the background of the clause, Dan Hobbs, director general of migration and borders at Home Office, told the committee that Rwanda agreed to host “something like 130,000 refugees from the region” under the original MoU.
“And ... as we do with other countries where we have resettlement schemes, that if there is someone with particularly acute needs or specialist needs that could be better served in the UK, we would provide safe and legal route for that person who is recognised as a refugee to come to the UK in the same way as we have worked with other organisations such as UNHCR to bring refugees from vulnerable areas such as Turkey, Lebanon,” he said.
Asked how many people are expected to be resettled via this route, Mr. Cleverly said it’s impossible to speculate, but “reflecting on the similar agreements we have with other countries, the numbers tend to be ... tiny.”
As of Dec. 19, a total of 29,437 small boat arrivals were detected, down by a third compared to the number in the same period last year (45,572).
