The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Dr Vincent Biruta, received the delegation of the Joint Committee of the British Parliament for Human Rights, who came to see how far Rwanda has implemented the cooperation agreement in terms of ‘Immigration and economic development.
The British parliamentarians arrived in Rwanda on Wednesday, February 26, 2024, as announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Rwanda, When Minister Dr. Biruta received this group of British MPs responsible for human rights, he was accompanied by the Minister of Justice, and the High Representative of the State, Dr. Emmanuel Ugirashebuja and the Spokesperson of the Government of Rwanda, Yolande Makolo.
The main reason for the visit of the parliamentarians to Rwanda is to hold meetings with the Rwandan authorities to review the implementation of various articles of the new cooperation agreement in the field of migration and development. economy signed last year.
This agreement, known as the Migration & Economic Development Partnership (MEDP), was signed in December last year by the Minister of Security of the United Kingdom, James Cleverly and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Rwanda, Dr Vincent Biruta.
The Government of Rwanda and the United Kingdom signed this new agreement in order to remove the defects related to the law that were revealed by the Supreme Court in England for the program of sending illegal immigrants to Rwanda.
The agreement, which was found to be flawed by the Court, was first signed in 2022, when Priti Patel was the British Security Minister before she left that role and was replaced by Suella Braverman who also resigned from that position.
These MPs came to Rwanda, while the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Security in the Parliament of Rwanda was examining the basis of the bill approving the agreement between Rwanda and the United Kingdom regarding and cooperation in refugee matters in order to strengthen the international responsibilities of both countries in terms of protecting refugees and migrants was signed in Kigali, Rwanda on December 05, 2023.
This bill fully approves this agreement after being reviewed and discussed in the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security Cooperation and must be voted by the General Assembly of Deputies.
On February 23, 2024, when the Minister of Justice, Dr. Ugirashebuja Emmanuel explained the basis of the bill that approves this agreement completely, he told the Parliament that when the migrants start being sent to Rwanda, it is expected that they will reach 2000 in the first four months they will have already arrived in the country.
Minister Ugirashebuja pointed out that Rwanda has come a long way in preparations, and that a lot has been done based on the new agreement signed to resolve the concerns expressed by the Supreme Court in England.
This includes the establishment of 11 best practices and the provision of training for 151 staff who will be responsible for receiving and maintaining the welfare of immigrants from the UK.
