Rwanda Statement – 14th April 2022

Unite the union has condemned outright the government’s hideous, inhumane proposal to send those seeking asylum in the UK to detention in Rwanda.

This untested proposal will see the government selecting people by gender, exploiting their isolated status, then sending them 4,500 miles to a country which in living memory has been traumatised by genocide. Only one-way tickets will be provided, exposing that the intention of the UK government is to force asylum seekers to settle in Rwanda.

In this process, the UK government will task decent men and women working in the UK, inevitably including Unite members, with the odious responsibility of processing and transporting these vulnerable human beings at an enormous cost to the public purse.

This policy diminishes our international standing as a country which champions respect for humanity, and it is shocking that it has been announced while parliament is in recess, so avoiding the proper examination this matter merits.

It is hard not to draw the sickening conclusion that this government is making this announcement in order to detract from its self-made problems on the home front.

Unite demands the full and proper scrutiny, and ultimately the rejection, of this abominable proposal.

ENDS