The last Conservative government relied largely on evidence from Rwandan officials in its assessment of the country as a safe place to send asylum seekers, an official report has found.
The independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI) looked at the Home Office’s assessment of whether or not Rwanda was a safe place to send asylum seekers, a document known as “country of origin information”.
The report found that Rwanda was a safe country despite evidence to the contrary being put forward by lawyers and human rights monitors, particularly the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Charities accused the last government of “gaslighting” on Rwanda’s poor human rights record.
The ICIBI found the government’s reports did not meet “minimum standards” of research and only included very limited critical information about the Rwandan asylum system, leaving fundamental gaps and unanswered questions.
Most of the sources that UK government officials consulted to confirm Rwanda was safe were Rwandan government officials and those with links to the government, the report found. When evidence was taken from other Rwandans who were not part of the government, Rwandan government officials said they had to sit in on the interviews.
The findings raise wider questions about the reliability of government country safety assessments. Labour has scrapped Tory plans to fly people who arrived in the UK on small boats to be processed in Rwanda, but has not ruled out processing asylum seekers in another country in the future.
The ICIBI report was first sent to the Home Office in July 2022 but was delayed by more than two years because officials said they would not engage with it until legal challenges to the Rwanda plan had concluded.
David Bolt, the interim independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, said in the report: “The review raises important questions about the Home Office’s approach and methodology in producing country information that is relevant to future reviews.”
The reviewer of the government’s Rwanda safety reports, Stephanie Huber, described as “an experienced country information reviewer”, said that in a document of such high importance with major implications for people’s lives, she expected a “certain standard” of research from the government.
Yasmine Ahmed, the UK director of Human Rights Watch, said: “This report vindicates Human Rights Watch and the many other organisations who never wavered in their conviction that Rwanda is not a safe country to send asylum seekers.
“Hopefully, this report marks an end to the government’s gaslighting on Rwanda’s human rights record. Offshore processing is cruel, costly and ineffective. This new government should reject such policies wholesale.”
Comments from the Home Office on the specific criticisms contained in the report were included in it. Officials accepted some criticisms and rejected others. Home Office sources said they would not be commenting on the overall findings as this was a matter for the previous government.
