( Twelve minute read)

Did you know that the very first convicts to land in Australia did so in 1788? (This was part of a transportation system that was put into place in Britain to ease their crime rates, primarily due to the rising levels of poverty created by the Industrial Revolution.)

A system of transportation was put into place in 1717. They believed that sending people to distant colonies would give them a second chance at life. Around 160,000 convicts had been transported to Australia during this time period.

The British government believed that Australia would be an ideal place to send their convicts because it was so far away from Britain, a more humane alternative to execution. They decided to use old warships as prisons, and called them ‘hulks’. The hulks began to run out of room so they moved the occupants’ as cheap slave labour to Australia.

The effects of this moment would change the fate of an entire continent that still has significant impacts in the modern world.

This time its not petty criminals that they are going to export to Rwanda but immigrants.

As I understand it. One-way ticket to Rwanda to have their claims to asylum processed there.

Under the proposal:

Rwanda would take responsibility for the people who made the more than 4,000-mile journey, put them through an asylum process, and at the end of that process, if they were successful, they would have long-term accommodation in Rwanda not the UK.

Rwanda will have the “capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead.

Rwanda’s human rights record makes it the ideal place to get rid of unwanted immigrants. 

In 1994, one of the worst incidents of genocide in modern history took place in Rwanda, where Hutu extremists slaughtered nearly a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu.

Rwanda genocide of 1994, planned campaign of mass murder in Rwanda that occurred over the course of some 100 days in April–July 1994. The genocide was conceived by extremist elements of Rwanda’s majority Hutu population who planned to kill the minority Tutsi population and anyone who opposed those genocidal intentions. It is estimated that some 200,000 Hutu, spurred on by propaganda from various media outlets, participated in the genocide. More than 800,000 civilians—primarily Tutsi, but also moderate Hutu—were killed during the campaign. As many as 2,000,000 Rwandans fled the country during or immediately after the genocide, is now a safe place.

The effects of this new law (yet to be signed off by their King,) undermines the core principle of the universality of human rights and breach’s the international Refugee Convention, which the UK is signed up to.

Under EU membership there was a mechanism to return asylum seekers to the first safe European country they passed through, but this returns scheme is no longer available to the government due to Brexit.

Slamming the door in the face of refugees, is cruel and nasty decision, which will do little” to deter people. Instead the UK, the government should be focusing on creating a system that protects the right to claim asylum and that prioritises both compassion and control.

How are we treating these humans?

Are we suddenly saying those coming from Ukraine, their lives are better value than those coming from certain other countries? I think it’s abhorrent.

Voyages of despair filled with hardship. There go I but for the grace of god.

The theoretical cost for sending 1,000 migrants to Rwanda could be £169m – or £169,000 a person – in contrast to the £106m it would cost to accommodate them in the UK.

More than 45,000 people crossed the English Channel last year on small boats – so-called deterrence measures simply don’t work.

£100m was paid to Rwanda in April and that an extra £50m would be handed over next year.

Of the £290m allocated to Rwanda so far, only £20m has gone towards set-up costs of the deportation scheme.

That brings the total cost to £290m but does not account for the cost of actually deporting any migrants to the country, which could end up sending the bill over £400m.

Instead of returning to medieval practices, there is no reason that on arrival applications for asylum could not be examined

The apathic irony of all of this is that we consistently hear that the providers of care are struggling to recruit and retain enough skilled staff, which is having a knock-on effect on access to care services and leading to unmet needs. Around half a million people are waiting either for an adult social care assessment with more people than ever waiting for elective NHS care (6.7 million).

The latest figures for January 2024 show: Over 321,000 of these patients have been waiting over a year for treatment,

A care system is in gridlock.

Almost 100,000 people in the UK are waiting for a decision on their asylum claims.

“Our Illegal Migration Bill will help to stop the boats by making sure people smugglers and illegal migrants understand that coming to the UK illegally will result in detention and swift removal – only then will they be deterred from making these dangerous journeys in the first place.”

Where would I sent them.?  Not Rwanda but into Care industry’s or does England no longer want to be the nation that wants to help other people.

As Climate change without a doubt is going to cause mass migration overall, this decision is likely to bring greater clarity to an area of law that is both complex and frequently in the public eye.

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks and abuse chucked in the bin.

Contact: bobdillon33@gmail.com