Cleverly ‘very confident’ Rwanda will abide by asylum deal terms
The Home Secretary praises the ‘legal robustness’ of the plans.
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Your support makes all the difference.Rwanda has a “reputational incentive” and “political desire” to make its asylum deal with the UK work, the Home Secretary has told peers.
James Cleverly faced questions over the treaty he signed earlier this month in a bid to get the stalled plan to send migrants to the east African nation off the ground in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling the policy unlawful.
Speaking to the Lords International Agreements Committee on Tuesday, he insisted he had a “very high degree of confidence” that Rwanda would abide by the terms of the agreement struck with the UK, adding that “much of the world is watching” and “everyone’s going to be marking their homework”.
When asked if the updated agreement will work in practice and if he was satisfied there was a willingness, ability and resources in Rwanda to meet the latest commitments, Mr Cleverly said: “The Rwandans are very conscious … this is being stared at, this is being observed, very intently, by the international community, by lawmakers such as yourselves here in the UK, by other governments around the world, both in Europe, in Africa and beyond.
“So, they have very much a reputational incentive to make it work and be seen to make it work.”
Mr Cleverly said ministers in the Rwandan government are “very keen for Rwanda to be seen as a country which is helping to solve problems in a continent which, sadly, has a reputation for exporting problems. So, they really want this to work and their willingness to engage with us both in the drafting of the treaty and the implementation of the treaty is incredibly strong.”
The “legal robustness” ministers believe the plan now has and the “attitude” of the Rwandan government to make it a “visible success” put the UK in a “very strong place” to address the points raised by the Supreme Court, he added.
He later said the “political desire within Rwanda to be seen to be successful in this, I think, is an incredibly powerful motivation for them”.
In light of suggestions Denmark is considering a similar deal and reports the US is looking at “third country asylum processing and rehoming”, he added: “They (Rwanda) recognise that the UK is not the only country that wants to do this. So, once again, they have an incentive to show that this works.”
Mr Cleverly confirmed to peers the Rwandan government would be passing a domestic law to incorporate elements of the new treaty with Britain but that he had not seen a draft version of the legislation, adding: “They are making changes in order to make the treaty deliverable.”
Asked by committee chairman Lord Goldsmith KC whether ratification of the treaty by Parliament should be delayed “until we know it actually works”, Mr Cleverly said the UK Government will “not be able to rely” on the agreement if key elements are not in place.
The question came after the Home Secretary was unable to say what progress had so far been made on putting practical parts of the treaty, such as appointing international judges to sit in a new asylum appeals court, into practice.
In order for the treaty to be “meaningful”, Rwanda will have to demonstrate it has made “fundamental changes to their processes”, he said, adding the country had shown “a willingness and ability to move very, very quickly on their reform programme”.
“This is a country that is willing to move very, very quickly. But, ultimately, if the elements of the treaty are not in place, then obviously we will not be able to rely on the treaty for the purposes of asylum process.
“But I am absolutely confident that the elements of the treaty will be in place and they’ll be very visible, there’s no way of hiding, there’s no way the Rwandans can hide, nor would they want to”, he said.
Mr Cleverly also defended the speed at which the UK is seeking to put the plan in motion after it was suggested by peers the timescale was unrealistic.
He said: “We could have a slower process but every day that we delay, people risk their lives in the Channel”, adding: “I’m not going to hang around watching that happen when I think there is an opportunity to work quickly, and I recognise that means that there are lots of things where you would seek reassurance that I can’t give you at the moment, but I am confident I will be able to give you, so we’re running a number of things concurrently rather than sequentially.
“I think that is a justifiable position because we are looking to address a really, really acute, very, very serious challenge.”
He said he wanted to make sure a “credible deterrent message” was in place as Channel crossings are likely to rise again in the spring when there is better weather.
Reiterating his position that the Rwanda deal “alone” will not stop migrants attempting the journey, Mr Cleverly also said the UK may no longer need to use the scheme if it has the desired deterrent effect when he was pressed on how many asylum seekers could be sent to the country’s capital Kigali.