British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended, Thursday, June 23, his policy of deporting asylum seekers who arrived illegally in the United Kingdom to Rwanda, during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit being held in Kigali. . “What people need to understand, what critics of the program need to understand, (…) it is that Rwanda has experienced a total transformation over the last two decades”argued the former mayor of London.
No migrant has so far been deported under this program, the first plane to Kigali having been blocked at the last minute on June 14 by a decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR ). The British government presented a bill to Parliament on Wednesday to overcome this obstacle.
Several human rights NGOs strongly condemn this initiative, which the Anglican Church describes as“immoral” and that Prince Charles judges “appalling”. The heir to the crown, who represents his mother Queen Elizabeth II, head of the Commonwealth, is due to speak with Boris Johnson in Kigali.
During this summit, many Heads of State and Government chose to be represented. Neither the Indian Narendra Modi nor the Australian Anthony Albanese will be present at the debates which will be held behind closed doors. The Commonwealth has 54 member states, including 15 kingdoms, often former territories of the British Empire, and 2.6 billion people, or one third of humanity.
