Easy News: UK government plans for asylum seekers to be sent to Rwanda

1. 

   On April 14th 2022, the UK Government shared their new plan, called the Nationality and Borders Bill, to stop so many asylum seekers coming to live in England.

2. 

   An asylum seeker is someone who does not feel safe in their own country and moves to live in another one, without the permission of that country’s government.

3. 

   People may seek asylum because there is war or fighting in their own country, or because of rules about what they can do, say or believe in, that mean they are not free to be themselves.

4. 

   The Government has decided to send asylum seekers travelling by boat to the UK from France to Rwanda instead. Rwanda is a small country in eastern Africa.

5. 

   They say this will cost the UK £120 million but that it will save money in the long-term.

6. 

   The Government has decided to see if this stops people trying to travel to the UK in dangerous ways for the next 5 years. They believe too many people are trying to enter the UK by crossing the English Channel in boats and many have drowned or needed rescuing.

7. 

   Last year 28,526 people made the crossing from France to the UK, up from 8,466 in 2020.

8. 

   At the moment, only asylum seekers who are men travelling alone will get sent to Rwanda.

9. 

   Some people think that this will make people smugglers more likely to try to convince women and children to travel with the men to stop this from happening.

10. 

    People smugglers are criminals who charge lots of money to help bring people seeking asylum into other countries, often in dangerous ways, and without permission.

11. 

    Lots of people are angry and unhappy about the new plan, saying it is mean and uncaring. They say Rwanda is not always good at treating people well.

12. 

    Some argue that the plan will only house 100 asylum seekers, and it would be cheaper to pay for them to stay in the Ritz - a very expensive hotel in London - than to send them to Rwanda.

13. 

    Some have said that the plan has been made to stop people talking about the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, going to parties during the Covid lockdown and breaking the law.

14. 

    The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, claims people who do not like the plan have no better ideas themselves about how to stop so many asylum seekers coming into the UK by boat.

15. 

    Lawyers have said that the policy breaks The UN Refugee Convention and The European Convention on Human Rights, and are trying to stop the new plan becoming law.

16. 

    Sign up here to receive Easy News updates sent to your email inbox. Click here to see previous issues of Easy News.

Back to top