Rwanda asylum initiative: 'Treating people like landfill'

Rev Sam Wells - ICN screenshot

"Treating people like landfill" - the Rev Sam Wells took the government's policy apart in an excoriating speech at St Martin's in the Fields, Trafalgar Square in London on the evening of World Refugee Day yesterday, at an event organised by London Churches Refugee Fund. In front of an audience of more than 120 people, he forensically dismantled the Government's policy of sending refugees and asylum seekers to Rwanda. The government's claims that the policy would save countless lives and cost less were impossible to calculate said Rev Wells. No account was taken of the net contribution that refugees could make to our society. It would not be a deterrent as migrants already faced risks of detention and harsh conditions when they arrived in the UK.

As for Rwanda being a safe country, he posed the question "safe for whom?" Human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch, have stated that the space for opposition and civil society groups to function remains closed. He pointed out that Rwanda is one of the least religiously diverse countries with less that 2% of the population being Muslim - but many asylum seekers to the UK come from Muslim countries such as Syria. Rwanda is also on the brink of hostilities with neighbouring DRC. As for not coping with the numbers of people coming, Rwanda has a population density double that of the UK. The irony being that perhaps we should be shipping people in the opposite direction!

Rev Sam Wells strongest words were that we are a wealthy country outsourcing a problem that won't go away, but in the process, we are treating people like commodities - "asylum seekers are landfill and Rwanda is a Brown Field site". If we are in contravening international law like the UNRC or ECHR the Prime Minister is prepared to circumvent the law.

The speech was concluded by considering Virtue Ethics. What to do? What should I do? But our ethics are in the context of two competing narratives. Firstly, that the UK is unique, has absolute borders, our imperial past provides us with contacts around the world and that by control Britain became great. The alternative narrative is that we have always been an island of migrants which had provided us with energy and renewal, and this is a blessing.

The evening also included music performed by Rafa Salti of Syrian and Palestinian heritage(vocals) Neil Georgeson (chamber organ).

On a practical response we learnt about two projects - Happy Baby Community and Hackney Night Shelter that are supported by the LCRF. Perhaps the most basic help being providing a London Transport Travel card to enable a destitute asylum seeker to avoid a night on the streets by staying warm on an all-night bus or tube!

Watch Rev Sam Wells speech here: https://fb.watch/dMrXKmC8Jc/