British Home Secretary James Cleverly has touted the UK’s migrant deportation deal with Rwanda as a ‘new and creative’ deterrent to the growing problem of illegal immigration. Speaking in Rome, Cleverly defended the deal despite criticism from the UN refugee agency (UNCHR) that it violates international law. The deal, which involves paying Rwanda to process migrants who arrive in the UK illegally, aims to deter people from crossing the English Channel. Cleverly said that the UK will not tolerate people smugglers determining who arrives on British soil, and that the deal is a necessary response to a problem that has outgrown the international institutional way of processing migrants.
He acknowledged the UNCHR criticism but stressed that the UK is a law-abiding country. ‘Of course we will respect the UN enormously,’ he said. ‘We take it very, very seriously. Doesn’t mean to say we always agree with their assessment. But we will, of course, look at that.’
Human rights groups have raised concerns about both the UK-Rwanda deal and Italy’s agreement to outsource asylum-seeker processing to Albania. Both deals have been forged by conservative governments amid anti-migrant sentiment among voters. The UNCHR has said that the UK-Rwanda deal is ‘not compatible with international refugee law’ because it uses an asylum model that ‘undermines global solidarity and the established international refugee protection system.’
Despite these concerns, Italy has seen a significant decrease in migrant arrivals this year, thanks to its European Union-endorsed agreement with Tunisia to stem departures. As of Tuesday, 16,090 migrants had arrived by sea in Italy so far this year, compared to 36,324 in this period last year. Spain has actually outpaced Italy so far this year in terms of migrant sea arrivals, with 16,621 arriving this year as of April 15, the last available date.
In Britain, the numbers pale in comparison to the southern Mediterranean, even during peak periods: In 2022, the number of people arriving in Britain from across the Channel reached 45,774, though last year the number dropped to 29,437.
