A leading migration expert has claimed the Conservative plan to send migrants to Rwanda “would have worked” as more than 1,400 arrived on UK shores just this weekend.
Austrian migration authority Gerald Knaus has advised the German government on asylum and migrant policy and is the founder of the European Stability Initiative (ESI) which advocates outsourcing asylum processing to African and other countries.
When Labour swept to power at the General Election Sir Keir Starmer tore up the Rwanda initiative painstakingly negogiated by the Conservatives.
But despite declaring a new taskforce to tackle people smuggling gangs, more than 10,000 illegal migrants have been recorded since Sir Keir Prime Minister on July 4.
Latest Home Office figures show in the past 48 hours, on Saturday September 21 and Sunday September 23 more than 1,400 people arrived in 24 small boats crossing the English Channel.
Speaking to Germany’s Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, Mr Knaus said: “The Tories were voted out of office this summer and the current government is opposed to the project for political reasons and has suspended cooperation with Rwanda.
“However, we now know that proper asylum procedures are possible in Rwanda.”
Mr Knaus added that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been successfully conducting asylum operations in Rwanda since 2019, bringing in refugees from Libya for processing.
He added: “Rwanda is safe for this, if the UNHCR can do it, so can other governments.
“Rwanda is safe for this, otherwise the UNHCR would not be able to do it. Those granted asylum can either stay in Rwanda or apply for a resettlement programme, mainly to the US or Canada. So it can be done.
“In order to control irregular migration and reduce deaths in the Mediterranean, reputable asylum procedures in third countries are legitimate, even if they are linked to the goal of simultaneously reducing irregular migration.”
Last week eight migrants were confirmed dead after trying to reach the UK across the English Channel.
The French maritime prefecture for the English Channel and the North Sea said 53 migrants were on board a boat which got into difficulty off the coast of Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France.
A rescue operation was launched but eight people were confirmed dead, the prefecture said in a statement.
