Is Rwanda to be the new Australia?

I was dismayed and deeply concerned when I heard of the Government’s plan to transport Asylum Seekers and Economic Immigrants to Rwanda. It caused me ask is Rwanda to become the Australia of the 21st Century.

Between 1787 and 1868 around 162,000 offenders were transported to Australia. Do we not look back to that chapter of our history with a sense of shame?

When David Davies MP, was our Brexit Negotiator, he sought to convince the EU, that our desire to be freed from EU Regulation, was not “a race to the bottom”. That is we would maintain the highest standard in all things. Who then could imagine that we would have a Prime Minister, who boasted that Brexit gave us the freedom to disregard an element of the humanitarian moral standards of the Western World?

I have recently read a book, “North to Paradise”. It is a autobiography written by Ousman Umar, a young Ghanaian. He decided to leave home and seek, “The White Man’s Paradise” (Europe). He had a horrendous journey.

He was with a party of 46 migrants who were abandoned by People Smugglers in the Sahara Desert. He was one of only six who survived. He made for Tripoli where he was told he would get good employment. He narrowly escaped sexual exploitation.

Having earned sufficient working as a mechanic, he engaged again with People Smugglers. They took him to Morocco, where he helped construct the dingle which would take him to Adventura a Spanish Canary Island. Two overcrowded dingies were to travel together, but one capsizes, all on board drowned. His journey in all took five years. Because of his age the Spanish allowed him to stay. He now lives in Barcelona.

At one level People Smugglers can be seen as Travel Couriers, but as Ousmam Umar’s journey make clear, there is much corruption and wickedness. It is a problem that extends far beyond the English Channel. They will not be beaten by the Government’s misguided proposals.

The most constructive response is to address the problem of Ignorance and Poverty in the Third World.

Laurence Emmitt