• THE United Kingdom last year called out Rwanda’s human rights violations and condemned its refusal to investigate allegations of torture and deaths in custody.

Yet since April Downing Street denies any human rights risks of the UK-Rwanda deal, going as far as to say that the country is one of the safest in the world.

As part of my work as a journalist for The Borgen Project, an American association working in the fight against poverty through foreign aid, I researched how the UK-Rwanda deal would affect the livelihoods of both Rwandans and the asylum-seekers.

Rwanda currently hosts about 150,000 asylum-seekers from other African countries. Most of them are unemployed and rely on welfare, but they also brought some employment and gender-parity benefits for Rwandans living close to the refugee camps.

Should Rwanda accommodate the promised 1,000 UK migrants, however, its welfare system would become highly overwhelmed.

Rwandans continue to face food insecurity and increasing rates of extreme poverty in the southern province. The country is in no state to support additional people.

The UK-Rwanda deal may also pose a security threat to other countries. The British high commissioner to Rwanda further reported that Rwanda allegedly recruited asylum-seekers in its military operations in neighbouring countries.

Hence sending asylum-seekers to the struggling country under the pretext of foreign aid can harm not only the asylum-seekers but jeopardise the livelihoods of those already living in the region.

Downing Street continues to portray the conflict as a foreign aid initiative. Yet, the Overseas Development Assistance budget commitment continues to stay at the pandemic-response value: 0.5 per cent of GNI, gross national income.

Rather, if the government increased the foreign aid budget and led further reforms in Rwanda, it could see benefits through increased trade and stability in the region. Bringing the budget back to the pre-pandemic level of 0.7 per cent of GNI could be a first step in the right direction.

ELENA SOFIA MASSACESI