migration
CSU regional group leader Dobrindt calls for an asylum pact with Rwanda
Alexander Dobrindt calls for refugees to be specifically brought into the country instead of caring for them in Europe or North Africa. photo
© Serhat Kocak/dpa
Dobrindt calls for an asylum pact with Rwanda. Great Britain already has such a pact – which is expected to cost taxpayers more than 580 million euros a year.
In the fight against smuggling gangs and illegal migration, the CSU is calling for an asylum pact with the East African country in the Bundestag Rwanda. “In Rwanda, asylum procedures could be carried out according to our standards, people will be appropriately accommodated and cared for on site,” said CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt to the “Münchner Merkur”. “Organizationally, politically and socially, Rwanda is capable of a third-country agreement and the government there wants to conclude such an agreement with us.” He held talks with the government and visited a UN refugee camp near the capital Kigali.
The chairman of the CSU MPs in the Bundestag called for refugees to be specifically brought into the country instead of caring for them in Europe or North Africa. “People who are stranded in North Africa while fleeing could be brought to Rwanda instead of being lured to the Mediterranean by smugglers at the risk of their lives. People who arrive here can also be taken to a third country such as Rwanda to process their asylum procedure. ”
Dobrindt reiterated that the goal must be to carry out asylum procedures and protection in third countries outside the EU. “Protection through Europe does not have to mean protection in Europe,” said the CSU politician. “England and Denmark are preparing this with Rwanda, Italy is taking this route with Albania.” The conservative British government wants to deter migrants with strict laws and deport those who have entered the country illegally to Rwanda without taking personal circumstances into account.
Dobrindt said that the plan was also to break the logic of the smugglers, “who promise access to the German social system for a payment of 10,000 euros. Hardly anyone will be willing to pay that much money if they know that his accommodation will then take place in a third country outside Europe.” And if that stops people from attempting the life-threatening crossings across the Mediterranean, “there is another humanitarian aspect to it.”
British Court of Auditors: Asylum pact costs half a billion
According to the Court of Auditors, the controversial asylum pact to deport irregular migrants to Rwanda is costing British taxpayers up to half a billion pounds (584 million euros). This is significantly more than was previously known. The Conservative government had so far confirmed costs of £290 million, but refused to say how much more money London had promised Rwanda. The opposition reacted angrily to the estimates. “This report lays bare the national scandal that the Tories are trying to cover up,” Labor’s domestic affairs spokeswoman Yvette Cooper said. She stressed that only one percent of asylum seekers would likely be sent to East Africa on a few symbolic flights if the plan ever comes into force.
With the asylum pact, which critics say violates human rights, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to deter irregular migrants from entering Great Britain. Anyone who comes into the country without the necessary documents should be flown to Rwanda regardless of their personal circumstances and can apply for asylum there. A return to Great Britain is not possible. To this end, Sunak wants Rwanda to be declared a safe third country by law. However, the corresponding draft is met with resistance in the upper house.