Freedom of Information

Regular readers will recall that I sent emails to the UK and Rwandan governments, asking

Can you tell me how I can get answers to the following questions about the four individuals who voluntarily went from the UK to Rwanda under the voluntary returns program? I don't want to identify the individuals, just to know:

1.Were they processed through the Rwandan asylum system?

2.Were they granted asylum?

3.Were they granted residency/citizenship?

4.Where are they now?

Today, after a month, I got a Freedom of Information request reply from the Home Office:

The Home Office does not hold the information which you have requested.

Given the subject matter of your request, the Government of Rwanda may hold the

information you are seeking. If you have not already done so, you may wish to write to

them. Contact details can be found on their website at https://www.gov.rw/contact.

If you are dissatisfied with this response...................blah blah blah.

Well I've written to the Rwandans and got no response. Maybe I could get the Foreign Office to chase them up.

Basically these four guys are in the wind. Either living a happy life in sunny Kigali or mining cobalt to sell to the Chinese.

Or in jail.

Or back in...................wherever they came from.

I wonder if they feel their human rights have been respected.

Orwellian.

Things I can't find out #1

Lots of Farage noise in the news has resulted in some questioning of whether the Rwanda scheme would actually have worked, given that the current government is apparently considering "return hubs" agreements with other countries. These are not the same as the Rwanda scheme; the latter was meant to send asylum applicants to Rwanda to be processed, return hubs are for those whose asylum claims have been processed and denied, as temporary holding areas pending deportation back to their country of origin.

It's not unreasonable to consider whether the Rwanda scheme, had it been deemed legal, would have worked. No asylum seekers were ever sent to Rwanda forcibly, but four individuals decided to accept the UK government's offer of £3,000 and a five year support package. Their identities cannot be disclosed by virtue of a High Court ruling which, probably reasonably, reflects normal asylum seeking practice in accordance with the Human Rights Act and the Refugee Convention.

Surely though, there would be some value in knowing what happened to them? Were they processed fairly through the Rwandan asylum system? Were they granted asylum? Were they granted residency/citizenship? Where are they now?

So much legislation is based on "here's an idea that we think might result in....". You can imagine both ministers and civil servants spending their lives with their fingers crossed. Sometimes there are pilot schemes. In a way, these four who went to Rwanda could be thought of as a pilot, so that we can learn lessons from it. We don't have to deny them their right to anonymity, and we don't want to ask subjective questions, just establish the facts as proposed above.

I'm not a journalist with sources and research teams but I tried, using various AI and search engine tools, to get some answers. But either no-one is interested or the authorities have no intention of following up. So I thought I should email the Rwandan government and the Home Office. Which I did.

Here's my email:

Can you tell me how I can get answers to the following questions about the four individuals who voluntarily went from the UK to Rwanda under the voluntary returns program? I don't want to identify the individuals, just to know:

1.Were they processed through the Rwandan asylum system?

2.Were they granted asylum?

3.Were they granted residency/citizenship?

4.Where are they now?

Thanks for your help.

I don't have high hopes of getting meaningful answers but, if I get any responses, I'll let you know.

I suppose there are other ways - Freedom of Information requests, Parliamentary questions - but I'm just some old bloke sitting on a sofa with his laptop.

Visit Rwanda

Here's a quiz question.

Have you ever wondered whether organisations get value for money out of their advertising?

That wasn't the question.

On 16th April 2025, Arsenal played Real Madrid in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid, in front of 77,073 fanatical football fans. The Arsenal players were wearing shirts with "Visit Rwanda" on the sleeves.

Here's the question.

How many of the 77,073 ended up thinking "Wow, Rwanda. Sounds like a cool place. I wonder what its beaches are like. Can I get a cheap flight tomorrow?"

If you guessed more than 0, you're deluded.

Apparently the Rwandan Tourist Board pays Arsenal £10 million a year for the sponsorship deal. It has been rumoured that the football club is reconsidering whether to continue after the current deal ends this year, because of "reputational damage". I think they should carry on; it's money for old rope. And £10 million would get you a backup goalie.

******************

By The Way #1: Rwanda is a landlocked country, However, it (says ChatGPT) "boasts beautiful inland beaches along the shores of Lake Kivu, one of Africa's Great Lakes, situated on the western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo". That's the DRC they are at war with (it's not technically a war but they are fighting each other).

By The Way #2: Arsenal won the match 2-1, with a beautiful winning strike from Gabriel Martinelli. I knew you'd want to know. Here it is.

https://youtube.com/shorts/_W7XsyCa6iU?si=SD7BARL0WVJ40OVm