Refugees in Rwanda, despatched from distant UK island, communicate to BBC

A gaggle of migrants have been transferred to Rwanda from a distant UK territory by the British authorities over a yr in the past. They are saying they really feel remoted and unsafe – with one describing the African nation as an “open jail”.

With political events divided over the federal government’s controversial plan to ship asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda, the BBC has travelled to the African state to talk to 4 of the migrants already there – albeit underneath a separate settlement – about their expertise within the nation.

The small group arrived from Diego Garcia, an island within the Indian Ocean. They are saying their complicated medical wants, in some instances as the results of previous rape and torture, aren’t being met in Rwanda.

Every of them receives the equal of $50 (£39) every week for meals and different necessities, however underneath the phrases of their keep – agreed by the UK and Rwandan governments – they don’t seem to be permitted to work.

All 4 say they’ve confronted harassment and undesirable sexual advances on the road. They are saying they’re, in impact, “self-imprisoned” – too scared to exit – whereas they await the UK to seek out someplace everlasting for them to reside.

The group – all Sri Lankan Tamils – have been transferred to Rwanda for pressing medical care after suicide makes an attempt. They’re now out of navy hospital and dwelling in two flats on the outskirts of the capital, Kigali, paid for by British authorities.

Their authorized standing in Rwanda isn’t the identical as it might be for asylum seekers flown there from the UK – however a lawyer representing two of the 4 says their “detrimental experiences do increase severe issues” about Rwanda’s capacity to supply a secure haven for “very weak refugees”.

A senior Rwandan official informed the BBC she had “full religion” in her nation’s medical system and the migrants’ issues about private security weren’t shared by others. “We have a thriving international inhabitants right here,” she added.

To guard their identities, migrants’ names have been modified

Not one of the 4 tried to enter the UK – as a substitute they filed asylum claims on Diego Garcia, which is used as a secretive UK-US navy base.

They have been amongst dozens of individuals to reach on the island in October 2021 – beforehand reported by the BBC. They mentioned that they had been fleeing persecution and attempting to sail to Canada to say asylum.

The 4 we met in Rwanda mentioned that they had been victims of torture and sexual violence of their dwelling nations – some due to previous hyperlinks with the Tamil Tiger rebels, who have been defeated in Sri Lanka’s civil conflict 15 years in the past.

Down a quiet street, in a two-bedroom residence, Azhagu says he has been recognized with extreme post-traumatic stress dysfunction, and uncertainty about his future and the isolation are making issues worse.

“We’re not getting correct medical therapy. Now we have psychological well being points,” says the 23-year-old. “Each time we go and inform the medical doctors about our issues they cannot assist us.”

Rwandan medical workers have shouted at him, he alleges, and on one event after self-harming, he says he was threatened with arrest and informed to return to Diego Garcia.

Mayur, 26, who shares the residence, says he has given up on counselling. He says he does not get correct drugs and doesn’t get to have “ dialog”. “That’s why I don’t wish to go to the hospital,” he provides.

Lawyer Tom Quick, from UK agency Leigh Day, says an impartial skilled evaluation discovered “every of our shoppers has complicated medical wants which aren’t being met in Rwanda”.

We approached the navy hospital the place all of the Tamils have been receiving therapy, however we have been referred to the Rwandan authorities.

The highest Rwandan official in control of the deal to switch asylum seekers from the UK, Doris Uwicyeza Picard, defended her nation’s medical system – including the migrants have been being handled “to the very best of our capacity”.

Three of the migrants – the 2 younger males and a lady, Lakshani – have had their claims for worldwide safety permitted by British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot) administration, which runs Diego Garcia. The United Nations and attorneys representing the group say this, in impact, provides them refugee standing. The fourth within the group – Lakshani’s father, Khartik – has been permitted to accompany his daughter.

It means the group can’t be returned to Sri Lanka, however the UK has mentioned it is not going to take them in. The Conservative authorities informed the BBC final yr that Biot “can’t be a backdoor to the UK”.

Whereas Biot falls underneath British sovereignty, it’s described as “constitutionally distinct”.

The group in Rwanda confirmed us authorized paperwork, WhatsApp messages, emails and letters that they had written over the previous yr to British officers, together with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, asking to be moved.

“I don’t know what number of extra years we should reside as stateless prisoners of the British authorities with out freedom,” one message mentioned.

The 4 additionally informed us that harassment had left them frightened to go away their houses.

In Lakshani’s residence, a gray curtain is pulled throughout the barred home windows – shutting the room off from the skin world.

“We don’t go outdoors. We’re at all times scared,” the 23-year-old informed us after we visited her and Khartik, 47. “I don’t have any ladies right here. No pals.”

Each say there have been a lot of tried break-ins at their residence. They present us movies that seem to point out intruders being caught by neighbours.

Additionally they recalled one incident on a close-by avenue, when, they are saying, a bunch of males had separated them and tried to the touch Lakshani whereas utilizing “very inappropriate phrases”.

The expertise, and others prefer it, had been triggering for the pair, they mentioned. Lakshani says she was beforehand sexually assaulted each in Sri Lanka and on Diego Garcia.

Azhagu informed us he and Mayur had additionally been propositioned on the street. “Strangers got here and requested ‘can I’ve intercourse with you?’ Folks have been laughing. We ran to the hospital.”

They each reported their issues to Crown Brokers, a non-profit worldwide growth firm that works with the UK authorities and serves because the migrants’ predominant level of contact in Rwanda.

All 4 informed us Crown Brokers had not taken their complaints critically.

“They requested me: ‘Why are you going out when you realize you’ll get into bother?’” says Azhagu, recalling one of many conversations with the corporate. “I requested them: ‘Why are you protecting us right here when you realize there may be bother?’ They didn’t reply.”

Crown Brokers didn’t reply to particular allegations when approached for remark by the BBC.

Attorneys representing the group mentioned that they had raised a number of incidents of avenue harassment and break-ins with Biot officers, who had not “substantively responded”.

The Biot administration didn’t reply to requests for remark.

The 4 informed us that they had not approached Rwandan police for assist. All of them mentioned they distrusted uniformed regulation enforcement primarily based on previous experiences of abuse.

The senior Rwandan official, Ms Picard, mentioned she was “unsure how we might help if the nationwide authorities haven’t been approached”.

“[The migrants’] issues about their security aren’t shared by anyone. Not by Rwandans, not residents,” she informed the BBC. “It breaks my coronary heart to listen to that someone might not really feel secure on this nation, particularly after we’ve labored very onerous to make this nation secure for everybody.”

The UK authorities’s international journey recommendation says crime ranges are comparatively low in Rwanda, however there are instances of housebreaking, theft, bag-snatching and mugging in Kigali.

The Tamils acknowledged they’ve had optimistic interactions in Rwanda however say the detrimental experiences have compounded previous trauma and left them frightened.

Lakshani and Khartik mentioned their dwelling scenario in Rwanda was an enchancment from the Diego Garcia camp, the place that they had slept in tents in a rat-infested camp, had restricted cellphone entry, and couldn’t cook dinner their very own meals.

There’s a fifth Tamil who stays in Rwanda after additionally being flown from Diego Garcia following a suicide try. He’s nonetheless pursuing a declare for worldwide safety. The BBC has spoken to him on the cellphone, as he’s at present within the navy hospital and never allowed to go away.

The BBC has seen a letter formally discharging him – saying he needs to be handled as an outpatient. He says he’s being held towards his will after refusing to return to Diego Garcia. His lawyer has referred to as on Biot to safe an answer for him.

The 4 migrants we met have been informed that, if they don’t want to stay in Rwanda, they’ll return to the Diego Garcia camp till being resettled in a “secure third nation”.

The Overseas Workplace didn’t reply to BBC questions on whether or not Rwanda was being thought-about as a “secure third nation” to completely resettle the group.

Once we requested the migrants in regards to the British authorities’s plan to make use of Rwanda to course of and home some asylum seekers from the UK, all mentioned that they had issues. “These refugees will endure the identical difficulties and hardship we face,” one mentioned.

Leigh Day lawyer Tom Quick mentioned his two shoppers in Rwanda had been left by the UK authorities with no certainty and in a “scenario of perennial purgatory”. Courtroom paperwork, lodged in London, argue the migrants’ therapy in Rwanda, and on Diego Garcia, “quantities to merciless, inhuman or degrading therapy opposite to worldwide regulation”.

Rwandan official Ms Picard mentioned there was “no similarity” between the group of Tamils and people who might transfer from the UK – who would, she mentioned, be “processed and built-in into our society”.

Ms Picard mentioned her nation was “at all times open” to having conversations about settling the Diego Garcia group completely, and that if that occurred, they’d be “supplied with all of the protections and ensures and the mixing wants they’d have”.

However “proper now they’re being handled as medical evacuees who want medical therapy”, she mentioned.

No cash was given to Rwanda to soak up and home the migrants from Diego Garcia, mentioned Ms Picard, and the “solely hyperlink” with the UK-Rwanda asylum deal was that the 2 nations have been “very sturdy companions”.

The Overseas Workplace has declined BBC requests to offer particulars of the Diego Garcia association. The deal was agreed utilizing unsigned diplomatic notes written within the third particular person – often known as “notes verbales” – despatched between the British Embassy in Kigali and the Rwandan authorities. The Overseas Workplace informed us that releasing the data underneath a Freedom of Data request would “prejudice the relations” between the 2 nations.

Neither the Conservatives nor Labour would touch upon the destiny of the Diego Garcia migrants in Rwanda or what they’d search to do with them in the event that they win the election.

Each events have pledged to convey web migration down, however Labour has mentioned it might scrap the Conservatives’ plan to fly some asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda.

Mr Sunak has made delivering the Rwanda plan a key precedence of his premiership, arguing it’s going to deter individuals from crossing the English Channel in small boats.

Labour has described the scheme – which has already value taxpayers £310m – as a “con from begin to end”.

In an announcement, the Liberal Democrats described the instances of Tamils in Rwanda as “deeply regarding” and mentioned they wanted to be “correctly investigated”.

The Conservatives’ coverage to ship asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda, they added, was ”immoral, unworkable and extremely costly [for] taxpayers”.

The Inexperienced Celebration co-leader Carla Denyer has described the Rwanda plan as “punitive” and “inhumane” – including that the way in which to cease individuals risking their lives in small boats was to offer “secure and authorized routes” for them to use for asylum from abroad.

Reform UK didn’t reply to requests for remark. In its draft coverage doc, the get together says it might use British Abroad Territories to quickly course of claims of asylum seekers arriving by secure nations.

The UN refugee company has referred to as on the UK to “safe options” for the group in Rwanda, and about 60 asylum seekers nonetheless on Diego Garcia, consistent with its “worldwide obligations”.

Whereas they wait, the migrants proceed to dream of a future elsewhere.

“We surprise if we needs to be grateful to Britain for saving our lives after we arrived at Diego Garcia, or whether or not we should always get offended with them for placing our lives in limbo,” Mayur says.