Sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is an “absolutely shameful” policy that threatens to undermine Britain’s potential to lead in a changing world, said Labor colleague Valerie Amos.
Lady Amos, who became the first black member of the Order of Garters this week, said the scheme “sends a message” to other countries about “how seriously we take our responsibilities” to the UN Security Council and the Refugee Charter.
She said Prince Charles, also a member of the Order like the Prince of Wales, “absolutely understands his role in the importance of neutrality” after it was reported that he had made disapproving comments in private about the scheme in Rwanda.
Amos, a former leader of the Lords and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, became the first black head of a college in Oxford when she was awarded a master’s degree from University College in 2020. She added one of many more to attend this week. The Order of the Garter, which has a maximum of 24 members in addition to the Sovereign and the Prince of Wales, during a glittering ceremony at Windsor Castle.
Speaking about Rwanda’s policies, she said: “I don’t think we should send people to Rwanda. If we look at those countries that have tried offshore processing in the past, this has not worked.
“I wrote that the government’s policy is absolutely shameful. I do not understand why, with the resources we have, we cannot speed up the processes and do it here.
“Our government says it wants to be an important player on the world stage. There is talk of a global Britain. We have international responsibilities that we have joined. It is really important that we show some leadership in speaking these values, and also in the way we work and function, that we are seen as living these values.
She added: “The message we are sending to many other countries about how we treat asylum seekers and refugees, how we deal with the treatment of asylum seekers, how seriously we take our responsibilities under the Refugee Charter, how much We take our responsibilities seriously as a permanent member of the Security Council, and I think that raises so many questions for us about our potential to show leadership in this area. “
When she joined the order, she said she was “amazed” and “excited” by the honor on a personal level and believed that the slowly growing number of awards for blacks and minority ethnicities was acting as a signal to people who looked like me that it can happen and it is possible ”.
It talks about the changes taking place in Britain, which received a “huge boost” after the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, she said. With these changes, however, Britain had to understand its past, including the empire and its role in the slave trade.
This should not be a “festival of accusations,” she said, and that it is instead a chance for a “talk of confession and confession.”
“I’m worried, for example, that so little of this history is taught in our schools that there is so little understanding of where our wealth as a country comes from.” The Amos Fellowship, which she co-founded in 2009, guarantees Britain’s talented young people with African and Caribbean heritage to have the opportunity to excel in education and beyond.
She spoke as Rwanda prepares to welcome leaders of the British Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting next week. Charles must be present after reports that he personally described the government’s policy of sending asylum seekers to the African country as “horrifying”.
“I have no idea whether Prince Charles has made these remarks or not. “What I would say is that I think he is a man who is extremely experienced and fully understands his role in terms of the importance of neutrality,” she said. “If he made these remarks, I know he would not want them to be made public.
As for the British Commonwealth, with 60% of its 2.6 billion people under the age of 30, she said the British Commonwealth would persist after the end of the Queen’s rule, but that it should reflect its younger demographic.
“I see no reason why the British Commonwealth should not have a future, a really important future through this transition. But we also have to think like people in the British community about what we want from the British community, “she said.
“I would like young people to be in front and in the center, less from government to government and more people to people.”
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Given Rwanda’s membership of the British Commonwealth, which has been called into question because of its human rights, and Gabon, described by the Human Rights Foundation as a “feudal state”, becomes its 55th member next week, there are likely to be questions about how some countries are in line with the stated values of the British Community.
However, Amos said it was important what countries they aspired to be. “One of the things I think about the British Community, as well as the European Union, is that you have countries that want to be part of organizations that have charters and values that relate to who and what you want to be.” , she said. .
“If you look at the Commonwealth family, there are countries that have had many challenges and a history to come to terms with, and I think there’s an organization where you want to strive for certain things and you want to be able to work through those things are positive, not negative.
“This speaks volumes about what the British community is up to.
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