Musings From Abroad

Rwanda claims UN refugee agency lied in British asylum policy case

Published

5 months ago

June 14, 2024

Rwanda claims that the UN refugee agency lied when it informed a British court this week that those who were transported to the East African nation as asylum seekers may be sent back to other countries where they might be subjected to torture or killed.

As part of a challenge to the British government’s policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, attorneys representing the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) claimed on Monday that the country’s asylum system was deficient.

The British Supreme Court’s argument for ruling the British plan unlawful last year was largely based on historical evidence, which the attorneys used to argue that the program put asylum seekers at risk of being forced to undergo the illegal process known as refoulement.

“UNHCR is lying,” Rwanda’s government spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The organisation seems intent on presenting fabricated allegations to U.K. courts about Rwanda’s treatment of asylum seekers, while still partnering with us to bring African migrants from Libya to safety in Rwanda.”

The organisation claimed that it had always expressed concerns regarding the dangers that “externalisation”—including refoulement—posed to migrants.

“UNHCR … finds that the UK-Rwanda Asylum partnership shifts responsibility for making asylum decisions and for protecting refugees,” it said in a statement on Wednesday, declining further comment on grounds of related court action.

The UNHCR’s legal representatives brought up matters in court, according to Rwanda’s government, that included either voluntary departures or the arrival of people who had legal status in another country but did not meet entry standards.

Last Monday, Britain announced that the first flight to Rwanda would depart on July 24. However, this is contingent upon the Conservatives led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s party winning the general elections on July 4.

That seems improbable given that the opposition Labour Party has promised to cancel the proposal if elected, and it now leads by almost 20 points in opinion polls.

Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

16 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court in Finland on suspicion of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.

According to the local daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the court rendered the ruling on Thursday following his arraignment by the Central Criminal Police for his involvement in the terror attacks that have afflicted the southeast area of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria,” stated Otto Hiltunen, the crime commissioner and investigation head.

“The man has carried out his activity, among other things, on his social media channels.”

Hiltunen also informed the court that the police suspected four additional individuals in Finland of funding Ekpa’s activities.

According to the story, Ekpa is of Nigerian descent and was born in the Finnish city of Lahti.

His offence occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 18, 2024, according to court documents cited in the publication.

Ekpa is not the only person the police have arrested. In February 2023, they caught him at a private Lahtian flat, but he was freed the same day.

Through the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Ekpa has continued to be outspoken on social media, raising money and agitating for a Biafran nation to secede. In the southeast part of Nigeria, both factions have been involved in acts of violence, murders, and maimings.

Since gaining formal independence in 1960, Nigeria has seen the emergence of several separatist organisations. The latest surge of calls for self-determination among different ethnic groups has been louder under its immediate previous President Muhammadu Buhari.

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.