Home Secretary James Cleverly has argued Rwanda is safe as the UNHCR itself "flew over" refugees to the country, in an attempt to cast doubt on the agency's previous criticism of the proposed system.
However, he was later asked to correct the record as the UNHCR has, for many years, operated a transit facility to a third country and did not keep refugees in Rwanda. Report by Alibhaiz. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
However, he was later asked to correct the record as the UNHCR has, for many years, operated a transit facility to a third country and did not keep refugees in Rwanda. Report by Alibhaiz. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00 I note with interest that their lordships relied quite heavily on comments by the UNHCR
00:06 about the situation in Rwanda. I'm also very conscious that the day after the judgment was
00:11 made, the UNHCR flew over 160 refugees to Rwanda for processing. And so through the actions of an
00:23 organization which is working with the Rwandans, they are telling the world through their actions
00:28 that they believe Rwanda is safe for refugee processing. Otherwise surely they wouldn't have
00:34 flown those people there. It is of course the case that UNHCR has for many years operated a
00:42 transit facility in Rwanda for individuals at grave risk of death in Libya. They are not
00:51 kept in Rwanda. They are there in transit to the eventual destination, third country destination.
01:00 You implied that this, running this operation, suggested that UNHCR might not mean what they
01:08 said about Rwanda not being a safe country. Would you want to correct the record on that?
01:16 So I think the points that I made were all factually accurate. My assessment about the
01:26 disconnect between the very strong criticism that they made about Rwanda, which was reflecting
01:37 their lordships' judgment, and the fact that they still work with Rwanda, I think is something
01:42 that's legitimate to highlight.