The Hope Hostel in Kigali (first four pictures), operational through British funding, has been empty for two years and is now preparing to receive the asylum seekers London plans to deport, despite criticism of the Rwandan regime by human rights organizations.
In the UK, parliament approved a controversial law Tuesday that would allow asylum seekers who have come illegally to the United Kingdom to be sent to Rwanda. The lighter their claim for asylum, the greater the chance that the refugees (initially mainly solo-travelling males) will be deported to Rwanda.
The U.K. intends to deter would-be migrants. The Conservative government, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, has pledged to put an end to boats carrying migrants crossing the Channel illegally from France. Since 2018, almost 120,000 people have crossed to the U.K. via that route.
Hope Hostel is Rwanda’s first “transit center,” with capacity for 100 people. Maintenance of the site has been covered with British funds for years, through a €433 million ($462.7 million) agreement signed by the two countries in 2022.
Human rights activists and members of the opposition accuse the repressive regime of Rwandan President Paul Kagame of human rights violations and consider that the migration agreement with the U.K. is simply a way to whitewash the reputation of the head of state and his government.
The Brits were inspired to do business with Rwanda in 2021 because Kigali had previously shown its willingness to receive refugees and migrants from the Libyan Civil War. After images spread around the world of migrants in Libya being abused, tortured, and sold into slavery, UNHCR called on countries to help evacuate the stranded migrants. The first flights arrived in Rwanda in 2019.
Since then, more than 2,000 refugees have arrived in Rwanda, where they will be relocated to a safe country through the UNHCR. They are housed just outside the village of Gashora, 40 miles south of Kigali. When we visited the facility, a small group of Eritreans departed for resettlement in Canada and the United States.
Read the whole reportage, for De Volkskrant, here. The story in Spanish can be found here, in English here. More about my picture and story can be viewed in this Buitenhof TV sequence.