Government's Rwanda policy puts vulnerable refugees at risk - William Gomes

There are increasingly concerning media reports of refugees disappearing from Home Office hotels in fear that they will be forcibly sent to Rwanda.

From my own experience and training, I have some understanding of the difficulties these refugees face.

Rwanda is well known for its human rights violations. According to Human Rights Watch, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities continues.

Fair trial standards have been routinely flouted in many sensitive political cases, in which security-related charges are often used to prosecute prominent government critics.

It is also extremely concerning that there is widespread evidence of ill-treatment and abuse towards the LGBTQ+ community in Rwanda. For instance, Human Rights Watch reported last year that: “Rwandan authorities rounded up and arbitrarily detained over a dozen gay and transgender people, sex workers, street children, and others in the months before a planned June 2021 high-profile international conference.”

The UK isn’t the first country to explore using Rwanda to host refugees, with Israel and DRC having sent refugees and asylum seekers there in recent years.

However, reports of mistreatment and questions over Rwanda’s suitability or even willingness to host refugees are fuelling fears that those sent there will either end up on the streets or will try to get to Europe using people-smuggling routes.

Those child asylum seekers have experienced many upheavals before arriving in the UK; they have sought asylum in this country but are now faced with hostility.

Sadly, their response to this hostility may lead to them being kidnapped by traffickers, exposed to sex offenders or harming themselves.

I have serious concerns about the Home Office’s safeguarding procedures which should protect them against these threats.

Originally, I come from Bangladesh.

I went through the asylum system, was granted refugee status, and am now a British citizen.

I have done a master’s degree in refugee care and have worked with refugees and asylum seekers for a renowned international organisation. I have personal experience and professional knowledge and training in this area, so I understand the difficulties these asylum seekers face.

I fled Bangladesh to escape persecution because of my journalism and human rights work.

I was nominated for a protective fellowship by the Rory Peck Trust, the committee to protect journalists, the PEN International and other human rights organisations, for a Protective fellowship at the centre for applied human rights at the University of York.

I joined the visiting fellowship in 2012, which was a life-changing opportunity.

It provided me with a chance to rest and recuperate, which was badly needed, and a chance to heal from trauma; on top of that, it allowed me to learn from world-leading experts in human rights.

I then started to dream of getting a degree which I did later on at York St John University, where I studied BA in Counselling, Coaching and Mentoring.

The support I received from my lecturers allowed me to learn, flourish and dream big. The course also provided an opportunity to work with vulnerable people who were grieving or facing other complex life problems.

As both a city of sanctuary and a UN human rights city, York sets a brilliant example of compassion and continues to provide hope to people from all over the world, most recently those fleeing war and unrest in Ukraine, Afghanistan and Syria.

My experience shows what a difference can be made when asylum seekers are provided with opportunities and treated with kindness, something which seems completely absent from the government’s Rwandan plan.

Mr Gomes is a British Bangladeshi freelance journalist and human rights activist based in York.