Rwanda accuses UNHRC of lying to UK courts

The Rwandan Government has accused the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of applying double standards and ‘lying’ to UK courts about Kigali's treatment of refugees, even while it is in the process of working with Kigali to assist about 500 refugees from Libya. The UNHCR last week told a London High Court that it had evidence that asylum seekers were endangered in Rwanda. News24 reports that lawyer Laura Dubinsky said British authorities were made aware of ‘at least seven cases of refoulement’ – forcing refugees to return to a country where they face persecution or violence – on 7 December in Kigali. Despite that, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak introduced a reworked asylum plan to his Parliament, which was due to send some people who arrive in the UK by small boats to Rwanda for processing. Attorneys for the British Government contended that deportations to Rwanda should not be delayed until the courts decide whether or not Rwanda is generally safe – as UK law now declares it to be. Legalbrief reports that Kigali said the ‘UNHCR is lying’ in court. ‘The organisation seems intent on presenting fabricated allegations to UK courts about Rwanda's treatment of asylum seekers, while still partnering with us to bring African migrants from Libya to safety in Rwanda through the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM),' it said in a statement.

News24 notes that the AU, Rwanda and UNHCR signed a memorandum of understanding to set up an ETM for the evacuation of refugees and asylum seekers out of Libya in 2019. This was after Rwandan President Paul Kagame's 2017 offer to set up a joint task force to protect refugees and migrants along migratory routes and in inside Libya. On the UNHCR's court submissions, Rwanda said the rights body could have been referring to only one case Kigali was aware of, that of a man denied asylum in the Seychelles. ‘This is just one in a series of wholly unserious allegations that have been levelled against us by the UNHCR,’ Rwanda said.

Full News24 report

A group of migrants was transferred to Rwanda from a remote UK territory by the British government over a year ago. They say they feel isolated and unsafe – with one describing the African country as an ‘open prison’. BBC News has spoken to four of the migrants already there – albeit under a separate agreement – about their experience in the country. The group – all Sri Lankan Tamils – arrived from Diego Garcia, an Indian Ocean island. They say their complex medical needs, in some cases as the result of past rape and torture, are not being met in Rwanda. They each receive £39 a week for food and other essentials, but under the terms of their stay – agreed by the UK and Rwandan Governments – they are not permitted to work. All four say they have faced harassment and unwanted sexual advances on the street. They say they are ‘self-imprisoned’ – too scared to go out – while they wait for the UK to find somewhere permanent for them to live. The immigrants werer transferred to Rwanda for urgent medical care after suicide attempts. They are now out of military hospital and living in two flats on the outskirts of Kigali, paid for by British authorities. Their legal status in Rwanda is not the same as it would be for asylum seekers flown there from the UK – but a lawyer representing two of the four says their ‘negative experiences do raise serious concerns’ about Rwanda’s ability to offer a safe haven for ‘very vulnerable refugees’.

Full BBC News report

Attorney Gatete Ruhumuliza notes that newspapers and television channels across Europe are filled with negative stories about Rwanda and its government. Produced by an international reporting consortium made up of 17 media outlets – including Germany’s Der Spiegel, Britain’s Guardian and Le Monde of France – all these articles and news reports appear to be communicating a single message: ‘Rwanda is not what Rwandans say it is. It is not a dynamic democracy with a welcoming society but a repressive country where everyone lives in fear, journalists and opposition are silenced, and even killed.’ In an al Jazeera analysis, Ruhumuliza notes that this message – however detached from reality – is not new or surprising to Rwandan ears. ‘Similar stories aimed at exposing the imagined “dark side” of Rwanda routinely appear in Western media, especially near important dates on the Rwandan calendar, such as 7 April , when we began our annual 100-day commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. With hundreds of bloody conflicts raging across the world, a global cost-of-living crisis devastating families, and the threat posed by climate change at an all-time high, it is indeed very surprising to us that the West’s leading news organisations have this much time and space to platform one-sided accusations against the government of a tiny African nation which is, by most measures, doing rather well. We are also surprised to see that journalists producing these stories relied for most of their claims solely on the testimonies of Rwandans in exile, including known genocide enablers, deniers and perpetrators, who have ample reason, personal and political, to demonise the government.’ Ruhumuliza argues that Rwanda has its problems and challenges like any other country and it is facing unique obstacles as it continues to work towards reconciliation, rehabilitation and recovery following the genocide. ‘But it is in no way the hellscape ruled by a murderous regime the Western media paints it to be,’ he adds.

Full Al Jazeera analysis