The RUnited Kingdom announced Thursday a controversial plan to control clandestine migration, including sending asylum seekers to Rwandaan African country 7,000 km away, and monitor illegal crossings of the English Channel with military ships.
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“As of today, the Royal Navy to assume operational command in the English Channel (…) to ensure that no ship reaches the United Kingdom undetected,” announced Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during a visit to the southern coast of England, where an increasing number of ships have arrived in recent months with migrants.
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To support the navy in this new mission, the executive will dedicate 50 million pounds ($65 million) to more personnel and new equipment such as helicopters, planes and drones, he said.
“This will send a clear message to those who drive the boats: if you risk the lives of others in the Canal, you risk spending your own life in prison,” he said.
At the same time, his government reached an agreement with the Rwandan authorities to send to that African country, with a “regrettable balance in terms of human rights” According to Amnesty International (AI), people entering the UK illegally and to those who have done so since the beginning of this year.
The Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel, traveled to Kigali to close this multimillion-dollar agreement, which provoked the outrage of NGOs such as AI, who denounced “a shockingly ill-conceived idea” that “will cause suffering and waste enormous sums of public money”.
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Rwanda will initially receive 120 million pounds ($157 million) “to host asylum seekers and migrants and give them a legal path to residence” in that country located 7,000 km from the United Kingdom, reported its Foreign Minister, Vincent Biruta. “It is about ensuring that people are protected, respected and empowered to pursue their own ambitions and settle permanently in Rwanda, if they so wish,” he said.
The plan – which may affect “tens of thousands of people in the coming years” according to Johnson – may apply to all migrants or refugees who arrive in the United Kingdom clandestinely, regardless of the country or continent from which they come.
It is so controversial that the British opposition accused Johnson of seeking with him to divert attention from the Scandal over illegal parties in Downing Street during lockdownsfor which he was personally fined on Tuesday, raising fears of a new political crisis within his Conservative party.
Immigration control was one of the key issues during the Brexit campaign and after getting the country out of the European Union in 2020 Johnson promised to end clandestine arrivals.
But the numbers do not stop increasing: 28,500 people carried out in 2021 in precarious boats the dangerous crossing of the English Channel, one of the busiest shipping routes in the worldcompared to 8,466 in 2020 and 299 in 2018, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior.
Determined to deter smugglers and migrants, the British government will also create specific centers to admit those who arrive clandestinely, similar to those opened in Greece, to replace current hotel accommodation, Johnson said.
“Our compassion may be infinite but our ability to help people is not,” said the prime minister, keen to boost his popularity ahead of municipal elections in May that could prove crucial to his political future.
Tim Naor Hilton, director general of the NGO Refugee Action, denounced the new plan as a “cowardly, barbaric and inhumane way of treating people fleeing persecution and war”. AFP
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