Inside the Rwandan hostel where Suella Braverman dreams of sending UK asylum seekers
Hope Hostel in the Rwandan capital of Kigali currently lies empty more than 18 months after it was cleared to make way for migrants and asylum seekers deported from the UK.
The Supreme Court will rule on Wednesday whether the controversial plan to fly migrants to Rwanda in a £140m deal is lawful, in a pivotal moment for Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s flagship migration policy.
If the Government wins its legal case, Hope Hostel could begin housing asylum seekers while their claims are processed in just weeks. The Rwandan government is hoping two similar facilities will be built in the coming years.
The privately owned hostel in Nyabugogo, the Gasabo district of Kigali, was being used as accommodation for tourists and survivors of the Rwandan genocide until a deal was struck between the UK and Rwandan governments last April.
Hope House currently has 50 rooms and can accommodate around 100 people with up to two people per room and they would be sharing communal bathrooms.
However, it is believed there are plans to expand the facility by building more accommodation blocks, eventually seeing it offer 150 rooms and being able to sleep up to 300 people.
Asylum seekers are expected to be provided three meals a day which they will eat in a communal dining room.
The complex was built to provide safe accommodation for between 150 and 190 young people orphaned in the 1994 genocide, when up to 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died in three months of mass killing.
The Government plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda to claim asylum as they say it will deter people from arriving in the UK through “illegal, dangerous or unnecessary methods”, such as on small boats across the English Channel.
Although the scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was signed off by then Home Secretary Priti Patel under Boris Johnson’s premiership, Ms Braverman has been its most prominent supporter and was even filmed saying it was her “dream” to see such flights happen.
The proposal would see some UK asylum seekers sent to Rwanda, where they may then be granted refugee status to stay in the East African country. If not, they could then apply to settle there on other grounds or seek asylum in another “safe third country.”
The plans have been widely condemned by campaigners. The issue has come before the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal ruled that it was unlawful to send asylum seekers to the country.
Natasha Tsangarides, associate director of advocacy at Freedom from Torture, told i: “The stakes of the upcoming Rwanda judgment couldn’t be any higher.
“Every day in our therapy rooms we see the terror that this plan inflicts on survivors of torture who have fled unimaginable horrors to seek sanctuary in the UK.
“This judgment coincides with increasingly hysterical anti-refugee rhetoric from the Home Secretary designed to distract us from the cost of living crisis and crumbling public services. It won’t work.
“Nor will this dirty deal with Rwanda do anything to sort out the enormous asylum backlog in which thousands of torture survivors are languishing, unable to recover or rebuild their lives.
“Now more than ever, we must stand united against this cruel scheme and demand an asylum system that treats people with humanity, dignity and compassion.”
She added: “This idea has already been branded unworkable, inhumane and wildly expensive.”
Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said: “The Government’s plans to ship people seeking safety on our shores off to Rwanda are in stark contrast to the UK’s long history of offering protection to those who need it through a fair hearing on British soil.
“The Government is showing a callous disregard to victims of trafficking, victims of horrendous torture and abuse and families who have to escape the horrors of war.
“These measures will do little to stop desperate people making dangerous journeys to the UK, and they pose serious safeguarding risks, particularly for children and families.
“Instead of outsourcing our international commitment to provide safe haven to those fleeing for their lives – including people from Afghanistan and Sudan – we should be focusing on operating an orderly, humane, and fair asylum system, and on expanding safe routes to the UK.”
