Andy Drozdziak
The Catholic bishops’ conference is urgently calling on the Government to rethink its Rwanda migration and asylum policy after five people, including a seven-year-old girl, died whilst crossing the English Channel in a small boat.
Rishi Sunak announced his plan on Monday to begin forcibly removing asylum seekers to Rwanda in the next 10-12 weeks, with the UK parliament passing the controversial Rwanda Bill later that day.
Responding to the deaths and the Rwanda Bill, Bishop Paul McAleenan, Lead Bishop for Migrants and Refugees, said: “I was saddened to hear that instead of reaching a place of sanctuary, five human beings tragically drowned in the Channel in their desperate hopes for refuge.
“This awful event underscores the urgent need for comprehensive and compassionate solutions to address the plight of migrants and refugees. I urge the government to rethink its migration and asylum policy and remember that each person has a name, face and story.”
The bishop’s words come as Catholic justice charities slammed Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda plans as ‘inhumane’ and ‘absurd.’
Director of The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS UK) Sarah Teather said: “The Rwanda plan remains as inhumane as it is absurd. It will destroy lives, plunge vulnerable people into danger and sees us abandon our duty towards people seeking sanctuary here.”
Plans to transfer people seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda, without first examining their claims, were initially announced in April 2022 by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Under the scheme, some asylum seekers who arrive in the UK would be rerouted to Rwanda to seek asylum there. These asylum seekers would be unable to return to the UK. JRS UK argue that the Government is neglecting its responsibilities towards asylum seekers and oppose the legislation.
“JRS UK will continue to oppose this and all attempts to outsource asylum,” the charity said. “We remain at the side of women, men, and children whose rights are threatened by this cruel plan, and all those arriving in the UK in search of safety.”
Recently, the Home Office has begun contacting people refused asylum and offering them ‘voluntary departure’ to Rwanda. JRS UK is among many organisations concerned about people being placed under pressure to go to Rwanda. JRS UK’s Detention Outreach Manager Naomi Blackwell said: “The prospect of being forced on a plane to Rwanda is deeply terrifying for refugees. And in detention, people are often told nothing about what’s happening to them.
“Our politicians need to stop their theatrics and remember that there are actual people on the sharp end of this.”
Rishi Sunak said the new Bill would ‘deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous crossings and break the business model of the criminal gangs who exploit them.’
However, JRS UK joined 250 organisations in writing an open letter to the PM to express their outrage at the plans, saying the Rwanda plan breaks international law and “abandons our duty to share in the global responsibility towards those forced to seek safety”.
The Rwanda Act is described in the letter as “a shameful and performatively cruel law that will risk people’s lives”, whilst the Government is accused of rewriting facts following the UK Supreme Court’s ruling that Rwanda is not a safe country in which to send refugees.
Catholic signatories to the letter include Columban Missionaries in Britain, Fatima House, JRS UK, St Vincent de Paul RC Church, (Liverpool) Justice & Peace Group and St Vincent Newcastle (St Vincent de Paul Society England & Wales).
Picture: People believed to be migrants disembark from a lifeboat at the Port of Dover, England, 23rd April 2024. (OSV News photo/Toby Melville, Reuters)