Opinion: Patel’s bargain to banish migrants to Rwanda

The UK’s upfront investment of £120 million will fund opportunities for Rwandans and migrants including secondary qualifications, vocational and skills training, language lessons, and higher education” (The New Times (Rwanda), 14.04.2022).

The Tories and the United Kingdom government has made arrangements that is beneficial for the UK. The UK is paying the Government of Rwanda to relocate migrants, which would have asylum seekers on a one-way ticket to Kigali. The UK government is paying Rwanda to take care of and be responsible for the ones seeking refuge in the United Kingdom.

This is for London to avoid and be able to re-locate asylum-seekers. They are outsourcing the asylum-seekers and Rwanda is sent their for processing. This means that they will not be on UK territory while waiting their cases. They will be sent and banished from the place they are seeking refuge. That is really a despicable move and the Rwandan government is getting financial benefits of doing this. They are doing UK a service to be more hostile against refugees, asylum-seekers and put up a fortress around the British Islands.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has deliberately signed an agreement, which is according to the sentiments of her government and the “independence” of the United Kingdom. A sort of arrangement that would be harder to justify as a member of the European Union. As they are not only sending people to the first “Third Country” of entry in the EU. However, they are sending them far away to a location, which the asylum seeker didn’t try to get to or wanted to reach.

UNHCR defines asylum-seekers: “An asylum-seeker is someone whose request for sanctuary has yet to be processed. Every year, around one million people seek asylum. National asylum systems are in place to determine who qualifies for international protection. However, during mass movements of refugees, usually as a result of conflict or violence, it is not always possible or necessary to conduct individual interviews with every asylum seeker who crosses a border. These groups are often called ‘prima facie’ refugees” (UNHCR – Asylum-seekers).

This is to send the channel-boat crossing migrants on planes and flights from the United Kingdom. So, that they cannot stay on-site or in the nation until their cases are processed.

Patel says this herself about this effort: This government is delivering the first comprehensive overhaul of the asylum system in decades. At the heart of this approach is fairness. Access to the UK’s asylum system must be based on need, not on the ability to pay people smugglers. The demands on the current system, the cost to the taxpayer, and the flagrant abuses are increasing. The British public have rightly had enough” (Patel, 14.04.2022).

They are not making the system fair, but transferring the asylum-seekers and migrants to another destination. This is a deterrent and a measure of which to scare people from coming. Because, if they come… they will not get into a safe-haven in the United Kingdom, but will instead be at whatever sites and housing, which the Rwandan government is accommodating them with. The UK government knows this and makes the UK less accessible.

The Rwandan government is by doing is a favour and becoming a “modern” Australia. Where the people who is outcast from the UK will come to Rwanda. The asylum-seekers was seeking shelter and a home in the UK. They did not go all the way and try to cross the British Channel to live in the refugee camps of Rwanda or whatnot. Therefore, this is a despicable move and a deliberate act to scare off people. This is showing what sort of solidarity and lack of understanding of the plights of the people fleeing conflict-zones, famine and destruction. Which don’t have the ability or resources to seek visa and stay outside their native countries by regular means. Therefore, the UK is doing this to ensure the asylum-seekers picks other destinations and not travels to the UK. As if they do…

They will take a flight to Kigali and be stuck in East Africa. Which isn’t what they sought after, but what the UK government will do to you. If you dare cross without the right paperwork into the UK. Peace.

Rwanda: Office of the Government Spokesperson – Rwanda-UK Migration and Economic Development Partnership (14.04.2022)

RDC: Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23) – Communique Officiel (10.04.2022)

East African Community (EAC): EAC Secretariat – The Democratic Republic of the Congo formally joins EAC after Signing the Treaty of Accession to the Community (08.04.2022)

RDC: Unite des Valeurs – Communique de Presse No. 08133 (05.04.2022)

RDC: Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23) – Declaration de Cessez-Le-Feu Unilateral (01.04.2022)

Democratic Republic of Congo: MONUSCO Supports the New Demobilization Program for Ex-combatants (01.04.2022)

Its major goal is the stabilization and securing of the eastern part of the DRC. This strategy contained in the P-DRRSC is led by the Head of State.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, April 1, 2022 – The Democratic Republic of Congo has adopted a national strategy for the implementation of the Demobilization, Disarmament, Community Recovery and Stabilization Program (P-DDRCS) for ex-combatants. The appropriation ceremony for this program took place during a workshop chaired by Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge in Kinshasa on March 17.

The national strategy is a Congolese Government’s technical tool. Its major goal is the stabilization and securing of the eastern part of the DRC. This strategy contained in the P-DRRSC is led by the Head of State.

The program is based on five major pillars, including Conflict Resolution, the Restoration of State Authority and Security, Economic Recovery and Community Reintegration, Stabilization, Economic and Social Development, as well as Communication and Awareness Raising in eastern DRC.

The adoption of the strategy marks a significant step forward for the DRC, given the absence of a national DDR program in the country for several years.

In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde stressed that the government is engaged in this process with MONUSCO, which is in the withdrawal phase.

“This strategy constitutes an important tool that will enable us to take over the Mission’s tasks after its total and effective exit from the country,” he declared.

In his speech, P-DRRSC coordinator commended the collaboration and involvement of MONUSCO through its firm commitment and unwavering support in the development of the project and in the implementation and organization of several field activities in the provinces. “MONUSCO provided us with significant technical support for the drafting of this national strategy which is the subject of discussion today”, he underscored.

In the same vien, he also welcomed the participation of the UN experts from New York for their contribution to the drafting of the100-page document.

Decentralization, the innovative element at the heart of the P-DRRSC 

P-DDRSC coordinator also said this new program has several innovations compared to the three previous ones in the past. Reference was made to DDR1, DDR2 and DDR3 whose results are mixed, according to him.

“P-DDRSC draws its strength from the mistakes and failures of past programs,” he argued. One of its key innovative elements is the decentralization of decision-making.

Powers are delegated to the provincial governors, including the territorial and local authorities. To this must be added the active participation of civil society at all levels and even of local communities who are victims of the armed groups’ activism.

In his confession, Mr. Tommy Tambwe revealed that these stakeholders were not factored in the three previous programs. ”This time, we wanted at all costs to correct these errors”, he declared, before arguing that this strategy factors in the real needs of the communities, with the principle: In the community, For the community and With the community.

MONUSCO reiterates its commitment to the Congolese Government

Taking part in the Kinshasa meeting, Bintou Keita, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the DRC, welcomes the adoption of a harmonized program for the consolidation of peace which is carried out in the communities and by the communities, and which integrates stabilization as an approach that integrates dialogue, conflict transformation, restoration of state authority, DDR, community-based reintegration, and community recovery.

For the head of MONUSCO, the absence of a DDR program has been felt for years in the country. This has resulted in a proliferation of armed groups, as well as the recruitment, and in some cases the “re-recruitment”, of thousands of men and women. On top of this, there are also boys and girls who have experienced the horrors of the conflicts, she said.

Echoing the program coordinator’s statement, the head of MONUSCO recalled the vision of the PDDRCS which is: in the community, with the community and for the community. “To this I would like to add “by the community”, because the latter will carry the heavy task of seeking locally designed solutions to conflicts and the reintegration of ex-combatants, returnees, and young people at risk and other marginalized people. The populations have lived through years of conflict and destabilization, and it is up to us to ensure that they hold the reins in the search for solutions to the conflicts and that they become actors of development in their respective communities”, she insisted.

She further reiterated the will and commitment of the United Nations to support the Congolese State in the implementation of this new national strategy.

Several government financial and technical partners took part in the debates on the new national strategy.

At the end of the day, the program was amended and adopted unanimously. It will be submitted to the steering committee headed by the Head of State for validation.

RDC: Centre de Recherche sur l’Environnement, la Democratie et les Droits de l’Homme (CREDDHO) – Declaration de Presse du CREDDHO au sujet de la Resurgence du M23 (31.03.2022)

RDC: Unite des Valeurs – President National Michel Okongo Lomena – Communique de Presse No. 08131 (31.03.2022)

RDC: Province du Nord-Kivu – Territoire du Rutshuru – Communique Officiel No. 5073 (30.03.2022)