16 April 2022
UK/Rwanda: Under the new “migrant policy”, migrants thought to have entered the UK “unlawfully” since 1st of January 2022 can be flown to Kigali – there to be allowed to apply for the right to settle in Rwanda. UNHCR has strongly “condemned ‘outsourcing’ the responsibility of considering refugee status to another country”. The policy seems to infringe upon the human rights principle of ‘non-refoulement’ guaranteeing “that no one can be returned to a country where they would face irreparable harm”. Also, the programme – which is certainly going to be very costly – is unlikely to act as a real deterrent: Israel’s attempts to send Eritrean and Sudanese refugees to Rwanda had ended in them simply leaving there and starting all over again.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61122241
Nigeria/USA: Washington will sell 12 attack helicopters as well as Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) rockets to Abuja – the second major arms sale in five years. Before that, under Obama, human rights concerns had made the US refuse arms requests by Nigeria.
BBC Africa Latest Updates 15 April 2022. 18:05
15 April 2022
Rwanda/UK: London hopes that partly outsourcing asylum procedures to Kigali will reduce the number of asylum seekers and refugees because “migrants may think twice before crossing the Channel if they think they may end up in Rwanda”. Unlike in the domain of human rights, Kigali’s record in matters concerning refugees is good. However “(t)he ability for the country to absorb the refugee population through integration and naturalisation has been extremely limited.”
https://theconversation.com/outsourcing-asylum-seekers-the-case-of-rwanda-and-the-uk-180973
South Africa: There are an estimated 3.95 million foreign-born people living in the country (total population: 60 million). “There is no evidence that international migrants are a major cause of unemployment in South Africa.” If the employment rate amongst immigrant workers is higher than amongst nationals, it is partly because immigrants accept “indecent” working conditions. To present the country’s very real unemployment crisis as the fault of the immigrants does not correspond to facts.
https://theconversation.com/xenophobia-is-on-the-rise-in-south-africa-scholars-weigh-in-on-the-migrant-question-181288
Rwanda: Since noise pollution laws forbid noise over 55 decibels in the day and over 45 decibels at night in residential areas, the use of loudspeakers on mosques in the early hours of the day has been banned. There will not be any morning calls to prayers for the rest of Ramadan – nor after it. Muslim leaders have been reported to have discussed the matter with government and to have agreed to the decision.
BBC Africa Latest Updates 15 April 2022. 11:34