UK Home Secretary visits Rwanda over immigration policy

Suella Braverman, who is the UK home secretary, has arrived in Rwanda as the UK government’s deal with Rwanda to send asylum seekers there remains tangled in legal challenges.

The UK struck a deal with Rwanda 11 months ago which would allow the UK to send asylum seekers to Rwanda while their application is being processed.  If their application were to be successful, they could then settle in the African country.

A flight was stopped to Rwanda in June 2022 at the last minute following an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.  No further flights have been attempted since then, therefore no asylum seekers have been sent to Rwanda since the deal was agreed.

Suella Braverman issued a statement on Friday saying the “UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership is a ground-breaking approach that will act as a powerful deterrent against dangerous and illegal journeys such as small boat crossing”.

According to UK government statistics, in 2022, 45,728 people crossed to the UK via the Channel.  This was a 60% increase from the previous year. 

Braverman said she was paying a visit to Rwanda at the weekend to “reinforce the government’s commitment to the partnership as part of our plan to stop the boats and discuss plans to operationalize our agreement shortly.”