The Jesuit Refugee Service will continue to campaign for the UK to uphold its responsibility towards refugees, following the Prime Minister’s announcement that people seeking asylum here will begin being forcibly removed to Rwanda in the next 10-12 weeks.
JRS UK’s Director, Sarah Teather responded: “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. And all for the sake of an election gimmick. This is not who we are.
With the help of our supporters JRS UK will continue to oppose this and all attempts to outsource asylum. 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.”
Plans to forcibly and permanently transfer people seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda, without first examining their claim, were initially announced in April 2022.
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 in this way, especially as the process around such ‘voluntary departures’ lacks transparency.
JRS UK has also supported people in detention who have been threatened with forced removal to Rwanda. Speaking following the Prime Minister’s announcement, JRS UK’s Detention Outreach Manager, Naomi Blackwell added: “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, it’s disproportionately difficult to get legal advice, they may not even have phone credit to ring someone to ask about it. Our politicians need to stop their theatrics and remember that there are actual people on the sharp end of this.”
