A little over a year ago, the British government moved a group of migrants from a rural area of the United Kingdom to Rwanda. One of them compares the African nation to a “open prison,” saying they feel alone and insecure.
The news visited Rwanda to interview four of the migrants who are now there, albeit under separate agreements, about their experiences there, as political parties are split over the government’s contentious plan to transfer asylum seekers from the UK to that nation.
The little crew traveled from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. They claim that Rwanda is not meeting their complicated medical demands, some of which are the consequence of past rape and torture.
The governments of Rwanda and the United Kingdom arranged for them to receive $50 (£39) a week each for food and other necessities, but one of the conditions of their stay is that they are not permitted to work.
The four of them claim to have encountered unwanted sexual advances and harassment while out and about. They claim that while they wait for the UK to provide them with a permanent place to live, they are effectively “self-imprisoned”—too afraid to leave their home.
Following suicide attempts, the group—all Tamils from Sri Lanka—was flown to Rwanda for emergency medical attention. Now that they are out of the military hospital, the British government is housing them in two apartments on the outskirts of Kigali.
