The RMCC is appalled by, and entirely opposed to, the government’s plans to permanently remove people seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda. We believe the Rwanda scheme to be inhumane and unlawful for many reasons but this short briefing focusses on the possible impact on children.
The government plans to send those with ‘inadmissible’ claims to Rwanda and the Home Office’s policy makes clear that unaccompanied asylum seeking children are “presently treated as not suitable for third country inadmissibility action”. This includes “individuals whose age is doubted but who are being treated as children under the Assessing Age instruction”. However, there are no safeguards in place for children who are treated as adults under that instruction after a short visual assessment by border officials.
RMCC members regularly see children as young as 14 treated as adults by the Home Office and placed in immigration detention or alone in adult accommodation. The Immigration Minister confirmed that any age dispute “must be concluded, of course, before
someone is relocated to Rwanda” but there have been a number cases of children who have been detained as adults being issued with ‘notices of intent’ to remove them to Rwanda.