asylum seekers - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

Top UN officials call on UK to reconsider plan to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda

TWO United Nations top officials called on the UK to reconsider its plan to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda, warning the move would have a harmful impact on human rights and refugee protection. In a joint statement, Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, and Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on the UK to instead take practical measures to address irregular flows of migrants and refugees. "The new legislation marks a further step away from the UK's long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the Refugee Convention," said Grandi.…

Apr

2024

By KATE HOLTON

UK’s Sunak says nothing will stop Rwanda policy; migrants die in channel

NEWS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowed that nothing would prevent him from sending asylum seekers to Rwanda after parliament finally approved the divisive policy that is designed to deter migrants from travelling in small boats to Britain. Hours after the bill passed, a French newspaper reported that at least five migrants had died in an attempt to cross the Channel. The French coast guard could not confirm the details but said there were several "lifeless bodies". Tens of thousands of migrants - many fleeing wars and poverty in Africa, the Middle East and Asia - have reached Britain in recent years by…

Apr

2024

By YVES HERMAN and HANNAH ELLISON

Migrants drown in English Channel hours after UK passes Rwanda policy

WORLD

FIVE migrants, including a child, died in an attempt to cross the English Channel from France to Britain in an overcrowded small boat, hours after Britain passed a bill to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda in a move to deter the dangerous journeys. The deaths occurred when a boat carrying 112 people set out to cross one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and panic took hold among the passengers not far from the shore. Rescuers picked up 49 people, with four taken to hospital, but others stayed on the boat, determined to get to Britain. The French coastguard was…

Apr

2024

By SARAH YOUNG and ELIZABETH PIPER

‘No ifs, no buts’, UK’s Sunak promises to start Rwanda flights

NEWS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks, telling the upper house of parliament he would force the new legislation through despite its opposition to the plan. Sunak said the government had booked commercial charter planes and trained staff to take migrants to Rwanda, a policy he hopes will boost his Conservative Party's flagging fortunes before an election later this year. After weeks of opposition in the House of Lords upper house which wants to introduce safeguards to the divisive legislation, Sunak said the government would force parliament to sit…

Apr

2024

By The African Mirror

UK parliament’s upper house delays Sunak’s Rwanda scheme again

NEWS

BRITAIN'S upper house of parliament again defeated Rishi Sunak's plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, proposing changes that will delay but not block a policy the prime minister hopes could help change his party's electoral fortunes. Sunak has invested huge political capital in the Rwanda scheme before an election later this year he is predicted to lose, saying it will help meet his pledge to stop thousands of people arriving in Britain without permission in small boats. The House of Lords, Britain's unelected upper house, for a third time sought to make changes to the new legislation after the…

Apr

2024

By ANDREW MACASKILL and MICHAEL HOLDEN

British PM Sunak’s Rwanda scheme set to pass parliament but challenges await

NEWS

THE British parliament is set to finally approve a divisive law this week to pave the way for asylum seekers to be deported to Rwanda, but further legal hurdles could yet hold up or derail one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's key policies. Sunak has invested huge political capital in the Rwanda scheme whose success or failure might be crucial to his Conservative party's fortunes in an upcoming election, given his promise it will stop tens of thousands of people arriving without permission in small boats across the Channel. The new legislation is poised to get lawmakers' approval, unamended, by…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

UK’s Rwanda asylum legislation to return to parliament after Easter

NEWS

LEGISLATION that seeks to block further court challenges to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda will next be debated in parliament on April 15. The government wants to relocate thousands of asylum seekers who arrive in Britain on small, inflatable boats each year to live in Rwanda, but legal challenges have so far prevented anyone being sent to the East African country yet. To overcome objections by the court, Sunak's government is passing the bill that declares Rwanda a safe country for asylum seekers and disapplies parts of human rights law in an attempt…

Feb

2024

By The African Mirror

UK PM Sunak “taken by surprise” by 1,000 pound Rwanda asylum bet

NEWS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that he was "taken by surprise" as he explained why he agreed to a 1,000 pound ($1,255) bet that his government would send asylum seekers to Rwanda before the next general election. The prime minister has faced criticism from opposition parties, who said the bet with the broadcaster Piers Morgan was distasteful and showed he was out of touch with the concerns of ordinary voters. Under the Rwanda plan, which has yet to be carried out, asylum seekers who arrive on England's southern coast in small, inflatable boats will be sent to Rwanda. On…

Jan

2024

By DAVIDE LEMMI, MARCO VALENZA, OUMAR SALL and MARCO SIMONELLI

Rather than looking for scapegoats, Morocco is cashing in on South-South migration

NEWS

WHILE the rest of the Maghreb is often in the spotlight over its aggressive approach to African migrants and asylum seekers, Morocco has officially chosen a more tolerant path and is reaping political and economic benefits from that more liberal attitude. Khady Hair, a beauty salon in a neat neighbourhood on the outskirts of the southern city of Agadir, welcomes clients of all nationalities and hair types. Its Senegalese owner, 38-year-old Khady Wade Baldé, has worked hard to build a chain of three salons that employ a dozen workers from Morocco, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire. “At the beginning, it wasn’t easy,”…

Dec

2023

By ANDREW MACASKILL, MICHAEL HOLDEN and KYLIE MACLELLAN

UK lawmakers in Sunak’s party say Rwanda bill not tough enough

NEWS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was scrambling to get enough support for his flagship immigration policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda after some lawmakers in his party said a planned emergency law was not tough enough. Sunak is facing a critical test of his authority with politicians on the right and the left of the Conservative Party threatening to vote against the bill when it goes before parliament on Tuesday. In a boost late on Monday, a centrist group of lawmakers in the One Nation faction recommended that its members back the bill but warned that they would not accept any…