To this day, serious human rights abuses continue to occur in Rwanda, including repression of free speech, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture by Rwandan authorities. Since 1994 and the Rwandan genocide, Human Rights Watch has been monitoring, documenting, and assessing the human rights conditions in the country. Rwanda faced strong criticism from countries across all regions. The UK government is aware of this, having denounced Rwanda’s human rights record just last year during its Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council, urging “Rwanda to model Commonwealth values of democracy, rule of law, and respect for human rights”. Rwanda cannot be considered a safe third country to send asylum seekers to, with Human Rights Watch and other actors, including the United States Government, having routinely reported on the serious human rights violations in Rwanda. The UK is seeking to entirely shift its asylum responsibilities onto another country, acting against the object and purpose of the 1951 Refugee Convention (a convention the UK helped draft) and its commitments to global responsibility sharing, and threatening the international refugee protection regime. As a matter of principle, such expulsions and denial of access to asylum on its own territory is a clear abrogation of the UK’s international responsibilities and obligations to asylum seekers and refugees. We are writing to express our grave concerns with the UK government’s plan to expel to Rwanda people seeking asylum in the UK through irregular routes, in accordance with the Asylum Partnership Arrangement, and to strongly urge the government to rescind the scheme and not proceed with the first removals scheduled for June 14, 2022.Īsylum seekers sent to Rwanda will be processed under Rwanda’s asylum system and, if recognised as refugees, granted refugee status there, with Rwanda otherwise handling rejected claims. Re: UK-Rwanda Asylum Partnership Arrangement and Expulsions to Rwanda