Immigration concerns were a major factor in the 2016 Brexit vote, and Johnson was pressured to live up to his promise to “regain control” of Britain’s borders, but his plan was quickly criticized by the opposition and philanthropists. Organisations. “We need to make sure the only asylum route in the UK is safe and legal,” Johnson said in a speech in Kent, south-east England, where thousands of small boat migrants landed on the English Channel last year. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “Those who try to jump in the queue or abuse our systems will not find an automatic path to install them in our country, but will move quickly and humanely to a safe third country or country of origin,” said the Conservative prime minister. Anyone who has arrived in Britain illegally since January 1 could now relocate to Rwanda, East Africa, which would disrupt the business model of human trafficking gangs, he said. “The agreement we have made has no ceiling and Rwanda will have the capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the coming years,” he said. ‘IMMORAL’ The plan drew sharp criticism from opposition parties, with Interior Minister Priti Patel’s Labor Party counterpart Yvette Cooper saying it was costly, “unworkable and immoral”. Concerns were also expressed about Rwanda’s human rights record, which the British government itself noted last year. Johnson said Rwanda was “one of the safest countries in the world”, but added that the risk of ending up in the country would prove to be a “significant deterrent” over time. Patel signed the co-operation agreement in Kigali on Thursday and presented it at a joint press conference with Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta. Biruta said Rwanda’s recent history has given it “a deep connection to the plight of those seeking security and opportunity in a new land”. Rwanda has already received nearly 130,000 refugees from many countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Afghanistan and Libya, he added. Rwandan opposition leader Victor Ingabire said the country was hospitable but needed to resolve its internal problems first. Johnson said the plan would face legal challenges, but said the co-operation was “fully compliant” with international legal obligations. The government will initially contribute 120 120 million ($ 158 million). RACES BOATS A government minister said the plan focused on unmarried young men. “These are mostly male economic migrants,” Welsh Foreign Minister Simon Hart told Sky News. “There is a different set of issues with women and children.” Opposition lawmakers said Johnson was trying to divert attention from his renewed calls to resign after being fined by police on Tuesday for attending a birthday party in June 2020, when social media was banned. of the COVID-19 rules introduced by his government. read more Last year, more than 28,000 migrants and refugees crossed from mainland Europe to Britain. The arrival of migrants in wrecked boats was a source of tension between France and Britain, especially after the drowning of 27 migrants when their boat deflated in November. read more “About 600 were found in the English Channel yesterday. In just a few weeks it could reach a thousand a day again,” Johnson said. The new approach will see the Royal Navy take over operational command from the Border Force in the English Channel, he said, and Greek-style hospitality centers will open in Britain. The head of a refugee advocacy group said the plan violates the principle of providing fair hearings to asylum seekers on British soil. “I find it rather unusual that the government is obsessed with control rather than focusing on empathy and compassion,” Enver Solomon, the council’s chief adviser on refugees, told BBC radio. ($ 1 = 76 0.7617) Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Written by Paul Sandle, Kylie MacLellan and Michael Holden. Editors: Elaine Hardcastle, Catherine Evans, Tomasz Janowski and Gareth Jones Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
