Having stated that Foreign Secretaries of the UK and Rwanda announced that in a five – year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Rwanda is committed to admit asylum seekers from the UK, and to process their asylum seeking status there, Ebrahim Bagheri in an interview with the site of Strategic Council on Foreign Relations spelled out:” the UK government intended to deport all asylum seekers who entered illegally into the UK through English Channel as of January 1, 2022 to Rwanda. In return, in addition to receive all operational costs of asylum seekers, Rwanda will receive $ 144 million aids as budget for economic development fund and integration”.

He added:” Despite there were sharp criticisms from some of the fellow members of Boris Johnson’s party against the plan, and some even called it as “the British version of Guantanamo Prison”, yet he insisted the plan is a deterring measure that can prevent entering illegal emigrants whom are relocated by human traffickers”.

The expert of European affairs continued:” Johnson claimed that seven out of ten persons who arrived the UK in boats were men under 40 years of age who had paid money to human traffickers to throw women and children out of boats. In fact, with the claim Johnson tried to justify his plan. Johnson called the arrival through the English Channel into UK as illegal, dangerous and unnecessary which has targeted national security of England”.

Bagheri said:” the bill called “Nationality and Borders” in Britain authorized the government to send asylum seekers out of the country to process their asylum seeking demand but there are conditions to be met in this respect; such as the destination country should be safe. This is the case, while NGOs European countries as well as fellow members of Johnson’s party have admitted that Rwanda is not a safe country. The UK had already protested against the behavior of Rwandan government with asylum seekers”.

The UK; the Violator of International Treaties for the Rights of Asylum Seekers

Having stated that Britain herself as a signatory of two important international treaties is a country that substantiated the securing of the rights of asylum seekers, the analyst of the European affairs explained:” the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees states that people should be protected against being deported to a country where they face serious threat of death or the lack of freedom. The “European Convention on Human Rights” also stresses that no person should be placed under torture, inhumane and humiliating behavior, punishment or conviction. Therefore, the behavior of the British government in deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda is a blatant violation of international conventions”.

He added:” at the outset, it was supposed that 31 asylum seekers who had entered illegally through the English Channel to be deported to Rwanda. After the protests of human rights organizations, 23 tickets were canceled. Yet, it was supposed that 8 persons to be deported from London to Rwanda in a charter plane on June 14, 2022. With the intervention of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) stepped in to issue, the flight was canceled despite the plane was ready to take off, and the British Home office announced that the government would “go back to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge this initial ruling, and to implement the plan, it will spare no effort”.

Bagheri referred to the numerous and widespread criticisms of personalities, NGOs, public offices, International bodies, and various countries against the decision of the British government as they called “brutal, cruel and inhumane” decision and said:” critiques have said despite the UK has always considered herself as the standard bearer of human rights, how she took such a brutal and inhumane measure against asylum seekers?”.

Asylum Seekers’ Crisis, the Consequence of Wrong Policies of Countries Like the UK & the U.S.

Having stated that asylum seekers crisis is somehow the consequence of wrong policies of countries like the UK and the U.S., the analyst of European affairs noted:” Now, when such countries have been tested for their behaviors on asylum seekers, they proved they can not admit even such a small number of them. Iran hosts Afghan asylum seekers without any foreign sponsor, but Britain in 2021 has hosted only 10000 of asylum seekers”.

He continued:” Britain has always tabled human rights sanctions against Iran and after Iran nuclear dossier was raised, she kept her unreasonable demanding from Iran. Despite measures followed by Britain on asylum seekers, blatant violation of international conventions to protect refugees and violation of human rights by the country are obvious”.

Bagheri touched upon the presence of refugees in Asian and European countries and compared them with the number of asylum seekers and elites among them in Britain. Having reminded that their total number there is not even half of the number of refugees residing in Iran, he said:” sanctions imposed on Iran by the UK and Western countries led to conditions that refugees residing in Iran are also suffering from those pressures”.

The analyst of European affairs stressed:” now, world institutions, media and elite society of the UK should focus their attention on the issue and remain accountable that how can a country which claims to be the supporter of human rights and is the standard bearer of human rights sanctions against some countries like Iran, blatantly violates those rights by herself?”.