Asylum Seekers Fear UK’s Rwanda Deportation Law, Saying “I’d Rather Die”

Weymouth: Following the approval of a contentious deportation plan, asylum seekers living aboard a lodging barge off the southern English coast expressed fear that they would be deported to Rwanda.
“I’d rather die,” said one of them. However, nobody who lives in the Bibby Stockholm that the government leases is aware of their potential inclusion on the list.

“Everybody is talking about Rwanda on Bibby Stockholm,” said Sudanese national Atuib, 23, who traveled by tiny boat over the Channel from northern France the previous year.

For the last two weeks, Atuib has been living aboard the barge that was anchored in Portland Harbor, close to the seaside town of Weymouth, the previous year.

With concerns about the circumstances on board, it has proven contentious despite being designed to hold up to 500 asylum seekers.

It’s been compared to a jail by others. A guy was discovered deceased in December of last year, perhaps from suicide.

However, on Tuesday, the day after UK legislators approved the government’s plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, such worries seemed insignificant to some of those people.

Atuib remarked in the town center of Weymouth, “A friend called me from London to tell me the government will send every migrant like me to Rwanda.”

However, he said that Rwanda would return him to Sudan, where his mother and sister had escaped fighting in the Darfur area.

He said they are now at a camp for refugees in neighboring Chad.

“It’s not good in Rwanda. It’s unsafe,” he said to AFP.

“I would prefer to die.”

Since expulsion was initially suggested in 2022, Rwanda has dominated the discussion over the Conservative government’s efforts to reduce illegal migration.

However, the scheme has been plagued by legal hurdles since the initial flights of that year were stopped by an impromptu court order.

In November of last year, the UK Supreme Court declared that deporting individuals to Rwanda for the purpose of processing their asylum claim was unlawful.

The fact that it was not a secure third nation and that immigrants had the prospect of being transported elsewhere, including to their own countries, was fundamental to the judges’ decision.

After months of discussion, parliament on Monday approved Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to circumvent the verdict by passing legislation declaring Rwanda to be safe.

According to him, the first flights will begin over the next ten to twelve weeks and will continue every day throughout the summer.

After arriving in the UK more than a year ago, Martin, a 28-year-old South African, said, “I’d rather die than go to Rwanda,” after spending three months aboard the Bibby Stockholm.

He described South Africa as “too painful,” although he did not elaborate on why he departed.

He was aware, however, of the prospect of being deported to Rwanda. “It’s better to kill me than take me to Rwanda,” he said.

“I’m not sure whether I’ll be transferred to Rwanda or not, but that choice isn’t made by us. Yes, I am afraid because I know that it may happen to me.

Disincentive?

Those who live on the Bibby Stockholm, who leave the barge every day to enter the town center, are often filled with fear and anxiety.

The two Afghans, Ahmed and Muhammad, who are 27 and 26, don’t believe they will be chosen. But nobody is aware of it, Ahmed claimed.

The two, who had university scholarships, came in 2022 and 2023 on student visas. They subsequently made an asylum request and are now awaiting an official response.

According to Sunak, the strategy would dissuade anybody from entering the UK by unofficial means and dismantle the people-smuggling organizations operating behind the “small boats” crossings.

“If people know there is no place for them here, they won’t come; they’ll choose another country,” Ahmed said.

However, Muhammad disagrees. Just a few months ago, he was a student of international law, and like his buddy, he wants to complete his education.

It will not succeed. They won’t give up. They may contest the ruling in court. He responded, “There will be a lot of challenges,” and the two of them went to the town center library in Weymouth.