Will Asylum-seekers and Refugees in Rwanda be Mistreated?Lessons from Rwandan Law, Policy, and Practice Today

Home Secretary - Rwanda Visit" by UK Home Office is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Recently, the United Kingdom (UK) has chosen to send certain asylum-seekers to Rwanda, thereby creating the impression that they are unwelcome in its territory. A lot has been written on this topic, particularly focusing on the UK’s position and its possible violations of Refugee Law, Human Rights Law, and Anti-Trafficking Law. 

However, in this contribution, I intend to focus on Rwanda’s position and answer the following question: what are the conditions of asylum-seekers and refugees in that country? 

Rwanda’s move to join the Commonwealth in November 2009 represents a significant shift in its international relations policy, and last year it started to strengthen its relations with the UK. Furthermore, Kigali also hosted the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in May 2022. 

The five-year agreement between the UK and Rwanda will see some asylum-seekers sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket, to claim asylum there. They may be granted refugee status to stay in Rwanda. If not, they can apply to settle there on other grounds, or seek asylum in a “safe third country”. The agreement, announced on 14 April 2022, caused uproar and led to litigation. 

On 19 December 2022, London’s High Court ruled that the British Government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was legal (December decision). Yet, the court also ruled that the Government had failed to consider the circumstances of the individuals it tried to deport, leaving the plan open to legal challenges. However, on 16 January 2023, two judges who ruled on the lawfulness of the Rwanda plan in December granted permission for parts of their decision to be challenged at the Court of Appeal (January decision).

Interviewed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) after the December ruling, eminent Professor Cathryn Costello stated that the High Court’s decision was disappointing because she considered it legally thin. Furthermore, concerning the general risks of individuals if they are sent to Rwanda as well the question of non-penalization: she submits that refugees should not be penalized for irregular entry, or stay, into countries in general (See Article 31(1) of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees). Professor Costello also challenged the issues about the non-discrimination between different groups of refugees because only certain refugees would end up being penalized for their mode of entry into the UK.

 At present is Rwanda a country where asylum-seekers and refugees risk mistreatment, torture, or even death?

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at the end of 2021, Rwanda hosted slightly over 127,000 refugees, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi. Refugees had the right to work and were progressively integrated into national systems by the Government of Rwanda.

On 10 September 2019, the Rwandan Government, along with the UNHCR and the African Union (AU) established the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) Centre that hosted refugees evacuated from Libya. At the same time, these three parties adopted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the same issue.

Under the MoU, while some individuals would benefit from resettlement to third countries, others would be assisted to return to countries where asylum had previously been granted, or to return to their home countries if it was safe to do so. Some were given permission to remain in Rwanda subject to agreement by the competent authorities.

“Rwanda has generously provided a haven to refugees for decades and has made efforts to build the capacity of its asylum system”

Since its inauguration and until the end of 2022, the ETM hosted more than 1200-forcibly displaced persons, evacuated from Libyan camps. In October 2022, the UNHCR considered the ETM “a lifesaving mechanism to provide critical life-saving assistance and protection, as well as case processing for durable solutions”. The UNHCR also added that the “ETM is helping to bring fresh hope to refugees”.

In the meantime, the MoU supporting the emergency evacuation of refugees and asylum-seekers from Libya was renewed in November 2021. On that occasion, the UNHCR urged AU Member States to emulate Rwanda’s example. On 1 February 2023, the AU praised the “generous” offer made in 2017 by President Paul Kagame to help refugees in Libyan camps by offering to host them in Rwanda.

Rwanda has also adopted one of the most multitudinous statutes on refugees in Africa. This legislation contains 31 articles, which is a relatively high number compared to other domestic African legislation on the same topic. Chapter IV is dedicated to the rights and obligations of refugees while Chapter V is dedicated to the very timely issue of refugee camps and their management (very few domestic African laws have a focus also on refugee camps, in fact, such as the Gambian and the Kenyan).

Furthermore, the Preamble to this statute refers to Rwanda’s Constitution which recognises the right to asylum and provides for the binding force of international treaties and agreements ratified by the Rwandan Government (Rwanda is a party to both the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa).

In June 2022, the UNHCR found that Rwanda has generously provided a haven to refugees for decades and has made efforts to build the capacity of its asylum system. However, it did note that Rwanda’s national asylum system is still not very well developed.

In recent years, episodes of killings of refugees occurred very sporadically in Rwanda. The worst occurred on 22 February 2018 when the Rwandan police killed at least 11 Congolese refugees during and in the aftermath of protests held outside the UNHCR office in the Karongi District, Western Province.

These protests began after the UNHCR and the World Food Program announced in January 2018 that they would cut food rations by 25% due to funding constraints, including at the Kiziba Camp (where the protesters were staying), which hosted more than 17,000 Congolese refugees.

Thus far, the circumstances of the killings have not been completely clarified. However, the police defended their crackdown, saying that the protesters had been advised not to leave the camp and to remain calm while the Government was still negotiating with the UNHCR. The protesters had not complied with this order, and some had armed themselves with sticks and stones, according to police. In response, the UNHCR urged “the refugees to respect local laws and express grievances through dialogue while calling on authorities to handle the situation with calm and restraint”. 

Despite these incidents, no major violence toward refugees by the Rwandan police forces has been registered since the close cooperation between Rwanda, the UNHCR and the AU started in 2019. Is this a coincidence?

From this short overview, my impression is that the refugee protection system in Rwanda, although improving, it is still not very well established. As highlighted by the UNHCR in 2022, in the country, most refugees still live in camps with limited access to economic opportunities. However, it seems that the Government is willing and able to set clear priorities in its agenda, one of which is to put Rwanda in a comfortable and convenient place in the world of international relations.

In this light, I can conclude that there are no clear signs that asylum-seekers sent to Rwanda from the UK will be deprived of their basic rights. Consequently, I am unconvinced that asylum-seekers sent by the UK Government to Rwanda are justifiably apprehensive about the protection of their basic rights, especially their right to life.

Finally, I wonder about the following pragmatic, and perhaps cynical, question: “With the world watching, is it wise for the Rwandan Government to discriminate against asylum-seekers sent from the UK? Will this be beneficial and advantageous for Rwandan foreign and economic policy?”

My answer is negative because, among other aspects, we are not talking about Congolese refugees fleeing unrest in the Kivu region (the region where Rwandan troops have been recently accused of conducting military operations). Instead, we are discussing asylum-seekers sent by the opulent, important friend and ally that is the UK, a country that, in the framework of the agreement of externalization of the asylum process, has also provided £120 million (roughly $149 million) in development funding to Rwanda, helping the Rwandan economy to be one of the fastest growing on the continent. According to the World Bank, Rwanda aspires to have a Middle Income Country status by 2035 and a High-Income Country status by 2050. Perhaps this lucrative agreement with the UK will help Rwanda to achieve this goal.