英、不法移民らルワンダに移送へ

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】英国は１４日、イギリス海峡から不法入国した移民らをルワンダに送る計画を発表した。英国に到着する不法移民の数は過去最多に上っており、政府は対応に苦慮している。（写真は移民を乗せたボート。資料写真）
　ボリス・ジョンソン首相はイングランド南東部ドーバー近郊で演説し、「本日をもって、１月１日以降に不法入国した者はルワンダに移送される可能性がある」と表明。「ルワンダは今後数年間で数万人規模の再定住を受け入れることになる」と述べた。
　ジョンソン氏は不法移民の取り締まり強化を公約に掲げていたが、危険を冒して海峡を渡る移民の数は過去最多に上っている。昨年、フランスから小型ボートでイギリス海峡を渡って英国に到着した人は２万８０００人を超えた。
　ジョンソン氏によると、これまでは国境警備隊がイギリス海峡で密航船の監視に当たっていたが、今後は海軍が担当する。
　一方、ルワンダ政府は同日、不法移民の受け入れに向けて英国との間で数百万ドル規模の協定に署名したと発表した。
　ビンセント・ビルタ外相は声明で「難民申請者や移民を受け入れ、定住に向けた法的手続きを提供するという内容の英国との協力関係を歓迎する」と述べた。
　ビルタ氏によると、移民らを「ルワンダ全国の地域社会に統合する」ため、英国が最大１億２０００万ポンド（約１９億７０００万円）の資金を拠出する。
　ただ、ルワンダへの移民移送計画をめぐっては、人権団体から「非人道的」だと非難する声が上がっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/04/15-12:54）

Britain will send migrants and asylum-seekers who cross the Channel thousands of miles away to Rwanda under a controversial deal announced Thursday as the government tries to clamp down on record numbers of people making the perilous journey.
From today... anyone entering the UK illegally as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1 may now be relocated to Rwanda, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a speech near Dover in southeastern England.
Rwanda will have the capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead, Johnson said.
He called the East African nation with a sketchy human rights record one of the safest countries in the world, globally recognised for its record of welcoming and integrating migrants.
Johnson was elected partly on promises to curb illegal immigration but has instead seen record numbers making the risky Channel crossing.
He also announced that Britain's border agency would hand responsibility for patrolling the Channel for migrant boats to the navy.
More than 28,000 people arrived in Britain having crossed the Channel from France in small boats in 2021.
Around 90 percent of those were male and three-quarters were men aged between 18 and 39.
- 'Inhumane' -
The Rwanda plan swiftly drew the ire of opposition politicians who accused Johnson of trying to distract from his fine for breaking coronavirus lockdown rules, while rights groups slammed the project as inhumane.
The United Nations' refugee agency voiced its strong opposition, with Gillian Triggs, the UNHCR assistant high commissioner for protection saying: People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy. They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing.
European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari did not directly comment on the British decision but stressed that it raises fundamental questions about the access to asylum procedures and protection in line with the demands of international law.
Ghana and Rwanda had previously been mentioned as possible locations for the UK to outsource the processing of migrants, but Ghana in January denied involvement.
Instead, Kigali on Thursday announced that it had signed a multi-million-dollar deal to do the job, during a visit by British Home Secretary Priti Patel.
Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to host asylum seekers and migrants, and offer them legal pathways to residence in the East African nation, Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said in a statement.
The deal with Rwanda will be funded by the UK to the tune of up to £120 million ($157 million, 144 million euros), with migrants integrated into communities across the country, it said.
In Dover, where many migrants arrive after crossing the Channel, some residents welcomed the announcement.
They should be sent back, because it is not our responsibility, said retiree Andy, 68.
Our responsibility is to look after our own people, which we aren't doing, the heavily tattooed army veteran told AFP.
I understand people escaping from repression, I do. But if they're coming over here for one thing and that is money, to me that is wrong.
- Backlash -
Refugee Action's Tim Naor Hilton accused the government of offshoring its responsibilities onto Europe's former colonies instead of doing our fair share to help some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.
This grubby cash-for-people plan would be a cowardly, barbaric and inhumane way to treat people fleeing persecution and war, he said.
Nadia Hardman, Refugee and Migrant Rights Researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the plan would complicate the process for Syrians seeking refuge in the UK.
Syrian refugees are desperate to reach a place of safety, Hardman told AFP.
The UK's agreement with Rwanda will only complicate this pursuit.
They will arrive and expect to be treated according to the fundamental values the UK says it upholds, but will instead be transferred somewhere, miles away.
Australia has a policy of sending asylum-seekers arriving by boat to detention camps on the Pacific island nation of Nauru, with Canberra vowing no asylum seeker arriving by boat would ever be allowed to permanently settle in Australia.
Since 2015 the UK has offered a place to over 185,000 men, women and children seeking refuge... more than any other similar resettlement schemes in Europe, Johnson said.
According to the UN refugee agency, Germany received the highest number of asylum applicants (127,730) in Europe in 2021, followed by France (96,510), while the UK received the fourth largest number of applicants (44,190).