Orphans of the genocide in Rwanda are being evicted to make room for refugees sent under the Government's new plan for asylum seekers. Under the £120million scheme announced by Home Secretary Priti Patel last week, refugees seeking safe haven in the UK will be sent to the African country first to be processed.
But the Mirror reports that one of the hotels earmarked is already being used by orphans of Rwanda’s civil war left traumatised by the 1994 conflict. Some 22 residents are being turfed out of Hope House hostel to make room for the asylum seekers.
Although now in their late 20s, the survivors have no money or family and some face lifelong mental health battles. They were given a fortnight’s notice to ship out of the hostel in capital city Kigali.
Last night, one vulnerable woman who has lived at the shelter for eight years said: “I barely know any other home. I was only told about moving out a few days ago. I have not figured out where I will go.”
Ms Patel visited the hostel on Thursday in a stage-managed trip before details of the orphans became known. Residents said they were not given the chance to see or meet her. Officials briefed press that the 50-bed building was a privately owned former tourist hostel.
There was no mention of the orphans, though one source said of Ms Patel’s visit: “There are more than 20 – you’d have thought it must have been fairly obvious.” A resident added: “It is not a guest house. It has been a hostel, our home, for the last eight years.”
Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: “The proposal was shocking enough but to now be evicting Rwandans is appalling. Instead of opening safe and legal routes for asylum seekers, Boris Johnson and Priti Patel have reverted to cruel, heartless tactics.”
Hope House was built in 2014 and is run by a local good cause called the Association des Etudiants Et Éleves Rescapés Du Genocide – AERG. It once housed more than 190 orphans. Most have moved on after finding work and homes of their own.
But 22 remain, including one born weeks before her parents were killed. Up to 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The Home Office did not comment on orphans, but said: “Rwanda will process claims in accordance with the UN Refugee Convention and ensure protection from inhuman and degrading treatment.”
