Civil servants blocked a Rwanda-style deportation deal with Uganda over concerns about the country’s human rights record, in particular over LGBT rights, GB News can reveal.
Whitehall sources said it was clear to Home Office officials that Uganda was interested in a similar deal soon after the Rwanda plan was announced under Priti Patel’s leadership.
GB News understands that discussions were conducted at embassy level but that Foreign Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) officials threw up objections on human rights grounds.
The revelations come amid reports that the Dutch government is in talks with the Ugandans to launch a similar deal for processing asylum seekers.
GB News understands that discussions were conducted at embassy level but that Foreign Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) officials threw up objections on human rights grounds
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Reinette Klever
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Under the proposals, Africans who failed in their asylum applications will be deported and hosted in Uganda.
Describing Uganda as a “hospitable country,” Dutch development minister Reinette Klever said: “For the Government, it is important that rejected asylum seekers return to their country of origin. And that is where it sometimes stalls.”
But Whitehall sources told this broadcaster that FCDO officials did not share Klever’s perspective on Uganda being a hospitable nation, with concerns raised over its track record on human rights and LGBT abuses.
In 2023, the country introduced an Anti-Homosexuality Act, which Human Rights Watch described as “radical and abusive”.
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One Whitehall source added: ‘This is another example of how, if we were out of ECHR, all sorts of policy options, like Rwanda, become viable.’
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Under the European Convention of Human Rights, Strasbourg can block deportations if an illegal migrant could face degrading treatment if they are returned or deported to a third-party location.
Last year, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman said that discrimination for being gay should not guarantee refugee protection.
GB News was told that a deal could have been done with Uganda had there been sufficient political will under Rishi Sunak’s premiership, but there wasn’t.
An official with knowledge of the matter said: “The Dutch are now doing what Britain was told it can’t do because of European law.
“Numerous countries are open to these deals. The Foreign Office just refused to pursue any of them.”
They added: “This is another example of how, if we were out of ECHR, all sorts of policy options, like Rwanda, become viable.”
