Suella Braverman’s dream has been dashed – for now

Martin Luther King had a dream to end segregation in a Jim Crow America; Nelson Mandela had a dream to end apartheid in South Africa; Emeline Pankhurst had a dream to gain equality for women in a sexist society. Two weeks ago, Suella Braverman shared with the public her ultimate dream: to witness a flight sending refugees and asylum seekers to Rwanda.

In the same week, Suella Braverman announced that anybody crossing the Channel would be banned from claiming asylum in the UK. Before her conference speech, the government had already cemented its legacy as the creator of unprecedented market turmoil. Last week, the home secretary made sure that the government would be remembered for breaching the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights, too.

It is tempting, then, to take pleasure in Suella Braverman’s surprising decision to resign from the government. However, until her repugnant anti-refugee policy is dumped too, we have very little reason to celebrate.

As I said in parliament in June, and as I reiterated at the Council of Europe last week, the Rwanda policy is vile and negligent. Refugees do not make arduous and deadly journeys to the UK for fun. Seeking refuge from discrimination, war and poverty, they make huge sacrifices to reach our shores. The Rwanda plan abandons the most vulnerable human beings in society, treating them like chattel: sent away, forgotten. To witness desperate individuals who have escaped war, violence and discrimination, and deliberately plunge them into another state of uncertainty and precariousness, is to punish them not once, but twice.

To deport any refugee to a country they have never known is barbaric enough. But in sending refugees to Rwanda, this government ignores the hazardous reality that awaits them. The Rwandan government has a track record of systematic human rights violations, including brutal crackdowns on protests, opponents and wider civil society.

This has occurred against a backdrop of rising tensions between Rwanda and its neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since November 2021, there has been a rapid increase in violence in the eastern region of Congo. According to a recent report by the United Nations, the Rwandan army has provided military support to M23 (shorthand for “March 23 Movement”), an armed group which has launched bloody attacks against innocent civilians, humanitarians, and Congolese armed forces.

The UN has reported that more than 150 civilians were killed between 28 May 2022 and 17 June 2022, and the number of displaced people has reached 5.5 million, the largest caseload in Africa. If the government proceeds with their deportations to Rwanda, they do so with knowledge that they are sending human beings to a warzone.

In ramping up deportations, the government is reaping the rewards of a decades-long campaign against asylum seekers. This government, aided by many in the media, continues to push false, demonising and divisive narratives that paint refugees as evil criminals coming to take advantage of our system.

Successive governments rarely highlight the way in which asylum seekers and refugees have enriched the lives of so many in this country. Michelline Ngongo came to this country as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Today, she is a trailblazing councillor in Islington, and has made a living fighting for the most vulnerable in my borough.

From Lord Alf Dubs, a child refugee who escaped the Nazis on the Kindertransport, to Sir Mo Farah, who was trafficked into the UK at the age of nine, refugees and asylum seekers have made invaluable contributions from which we all benefit. The government will be quick to jump on the bandwagon of praise and support, but the sad truth is that under this government’s immigration policies, they may never have been allowed to call this place home.

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Refugees and asylum seekers are scholars, scientists, teachers, doctors and nurses. Above all, they are human beings – mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, grandparents and friends. Their rights are not contingent on their social, economic or cultural value. Their rights are unconditional.

As a country, we have openly and rightly welcomed refugees from Ukraine, fleeing Russia’s brutal war of aggression. We must continue to do so. We must also extend our support to refugees from Syria, Iraq, Yemen or any other area of conflict. To do otherwise is a dereliction of duty.

Respect for refugees and their arduous plight is being flouted by this government. My hope is that those holding the lives of refugees in the palms of their hands will reconsider, reflect and take a moment to think about how they would like to be treated if they found themselves in the same situation.

“My dream was to be myself”. These are the words of Le Petit Prince who, facing homophobic persecution, fled Turkey for the UK in 2016. Suella Braverman might have now gone. However, for the sake of humanity, we must ensure it’s the living dreams of people like Petit Prince, not the dying dreams of Suella Braverman, that are actualised.

Jeremy Corbyn is the MP for Islington North and served as leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020