{"id":75828,"date":"2024-06-12T14:10:27","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T14:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims"},"modified":"2024-06-12T14:19:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T14:19:59","slug":"migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims","title":{"rendered":"Migration: UNHCR accused of lying in wake of new anti-Rwanda claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>The UN refugee agency has been accused of \u201cundermining Rwanda\u2019s welcoming policy\u201d and lying in its latest attempt to block Britain\u2019s plan to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda.<\/p>\n

\u201cUNHCR is lying,\u201d the Government of Rwanda said late Tuesday in response to Monday\u2019s submissions by the UN agency to U. K\u2019s High Court that it was investigating new allegations Rwanda had endangered asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe organisation seems intent on presenting fabricated allegations to U.K. courts about Rwanda\u2019s treatment of asylum seekers, while still partnering with us to bring African migrants from Libya to safety in Rwanda through the Emergency Transit Mechanism,\u201d Kigali said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The Rwandan government was referring to an ongoing UNHCR-backed scheme under which more than 2000 asylum seekers have been evacuated from Libya and airlifted to safety in Rwanda since 2019.<\/p>\n

Surprise opponents to Rwanda-UK migration ties<\/p>\n

The latest group to arrive came in March, comprising of more than 90 people. Many of the \u2018Libya migrants\u2019 have since been processed in Kigali, with at least 1,600 of them already relocated to third countries in the west.<\/p>\n

UNHCR emerged as a surprise opponent to an unprecedented migration partnership between Rwanda and the U.K, first signed in April 2022, under which the latter would deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda.<\/p>\n

Rwanda and the U.K later reinforced the partnership with additional guarantees and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak\u2019s government has aggressively defended the deal, insisting Rwanda was safe for asylum seekers. The U.K prime minister has in recent months made significant steps towards ensuring the first flight of migrants depart to Rwanda in July, and the UNHCR\u2019s latest intervention is widely seen as a desperate last-ditch effort to derail anticipated breakthrough in the UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership.<\/p>\n

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees claims there is fresh evidence Rwanda potentially violated the rights of asylum-seekers by sending them to countries where they risked torture. It also claims Kigali denied \u201caccess to the asylum procedure to asylum seekers\u201d in recent months.<\/p>\n

But Rwanda has rejected these claims, offering examples of some of the cases \u2013 which were handled judiciously \u2013 that the UN agency might be referring to.<\/p>\n

\u2018Unserious allegations\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cOur understanding is that one of the cases that the UNCHR has referred to relates to a man who was denied asylum in the Seychelles,\u201d the statement says.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing this judgement, the UNHCR in South Africa unilaterally decided he should be given asylum in Rwanda. The Government of Rwanda was neither consulted prior to this decision, nor have we had any contact from the UNHCR about this case since.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement, released by the Office of Government Spokesperson, adds, \u201cThis is just one in a series of wholly unserious allegations that have been levelled against us by the UNHCR.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother absurd claim was that Rwanda was denying asylum to a group of Burundians \u2013 who in fact did not ever claim asylum but instead were found to have breached Rwandan immigration laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is made all the more ridiculous when you consider the fact that Rwanda currently provides refuge to tens of thousands of our Burundian neighbours who have sought safety in our country, the statement adds.<\/p>\n

\u2018Rwanda does not refoule asylum seekers\u2019<\/p>\n

The government also cited \u201cother false allegations (relating) to people with legal status in other countries arriving in Rwanda, neither meeting our entry requirements for visitors nor claiming asylum, or people leaving Rwanda entirely of their own volition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not examples of refoulement. As we have said time and again, Rwanda does not refoule asylum seekers,\u201d the statement reads in part, adding, \u201cthe UNHCR seems intent on undermining the safety of Rwanda within U.K. courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Refoulement is when an asylum seeker is forcibly removed from a country and returned to a country where they are likely to face persecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cRwanda remains committed to upholding all of our obligations as signatories to the refugee convention,\u201d the government said in the statement. \u201cWe will continue to provide safety and opportunity to those fleeing conflict, as we have done for the last thirty years.\u201d<\/p>\n

UNHCR has until June 28 to furnish court with evidence of their latest allegations.<\/p>\n

Rwanda has been home to tens of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers for more than 20 years, with UNHCR records showing at least 135,000 refugees \u2013 mostly from DR Congo and Burundi \u2013 as of September last year.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda Follow Africa-Press<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. The UN refugee agency has been accused of \u201cundermining Rwanda\u2019s welcoming policy\u201d and lying in its latest attempt to block Britain\u2019s plan to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda. \u201cUNHCR is lying,\u201d the Government of Rwanda said late Tuesday in response to Monday\u2019s submissions by the UN agency to U. K\u2019s High Court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":75827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[4320,1348,390,758,5988,374,5989,5987],"class_list":["post-75828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-asylum-seekers","tag-migration","tag-refugees","tag-rwanda","tag-rwanda-uk-migration-deal","tag-uk","tag-uk-high-court","tag-unhcr"],"yoast_head":"\nMigration: UNHCR accused of lying in wake of new anti-Rwanda claims - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The UN refugee agency has been accused of \u201cundermining Rwanda\u2019s welcoming policy\u201d and lying in its latest attempt to blo ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Migration: UNHCR accused of lying in wake of new anti-Rwanda claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The UN refugee agency has been accused of \u201cundermining Rwanda\u2019s welcoming policy\u201d and lying in its latest attempt to blo ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-12T14:10:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-12T14:19:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2024\/06\/sm_1718189279.692621.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"643\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Migration: UNHCR accused of lying in wake of new anti-Rwanda claims\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-12T14:10:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-12T14:19:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims\"},\"wordCount\":751,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2024\/06\/sm_1718189279.692621.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Asylum seekers\",\"migration\",\"refugees\",\"Rwanda\",\"RWANDA-UK MIGRATION DEAL\",\"UK\",\"UK HIGH COURT\",\"UNHCR\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/migration-unhcr-accused-of-lying-in-wake-of-new-anti-rwanda-claims\",\"name\":\"Migration: UNHCR accused of lying in wake of new anti-Rwanda claims - 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