A Tory behind Rwanda flights was confronted with his own government’s warnings about the country in a car crash interview.
Tom Pursglove complained there had been “appalling stereotypes thrown around” about the east African country, after Boris Johnson announced Britain’s unwanted asylum seekers will be flown there by force.
But the Home Office minister was hauled up on his claim by a Sky News presenter - who read out Foreign Office advice.
The advice said: “Homosexuality is not illegal in Rwanda but remains frowned on by many.
“LGBT individuals can experience discrimination and abuse, including from local authorities. There are no specific anti-discrimination laws that protect LGBT individuals."
TV host Niall Paterson blasted: “That is the advice given to gay people in this country from the Foreign Office - just round the corner from you!”
It’s understood LGBT+ people, women and refugees from Rwanda itself could be sent to Rwanda under Boris Johnson’s policy.
More than 200 people from Rwanda itself have applied for UK asylum in the past decade, Home Office figures show.
And across the EU, 255 Rwandans had an asylum claim granted in 2020 alone - putting the country in the top 20.
In a later interview Mr Pursglove also was unable to name Rwanda’s population or life expectancy, saying: “I’m afraid I’ve not got that figure to hand this morning.” He also could not say how much it will cost per person after a £120m “initial” fund.
Standing outside the Home Office, Mr Pursglove insisted “Rwanda have made enormous strides forward”.
Despite the 1994 genocide that slaughtered 800,000 people in 100 days, he said: “They have a rich and proud history, rather like we do in this country, of providing sanctuary to people who need it.”
He added: “Rwanda… has a female majority parliament, it has an anti-discrimination law that runs right through its constitution.
“The UNHCR themselves place refugees in Rwanda as part of their schemes which of course is providing sanctuary to them.”
Yet it has emerged Boris Johnson’s government condemned Rwanda’s human rights record less than a year ago.
The UK International Ambassador for Human Rights, Rita French, said in a speech uploaded to the government’s own website: “We regret that Rwanda did not support our recommendation… to conduct transparent, credible and independent investigations into allegations of human rights violations including deaths in custody and torture.”
She said the UK welcomed Rwanda’s “progress” and “engagement” but issued a warning about people in “transit centres”.
Asylum seekers removed from Britain to Rwanda will be put in hostels for up to three months.
“We were disappointed that Rwanda did not support the UK recommendation to screen, identify and provide support to trafficking victims, including those held in Government transit centres,” she said.
An ex-Cabinet minister today warned the Tory plans to send Channel boat migrants to Rwanda will provoke violent confrontations at airports as they prepare to board military flights.
Former International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell feared asylum seekers would forcibly resist attempts to corral them onto planes from Britain to east Africa.
“It will be very difficult to transport them because we know that people will fight to stop getting on planes,” he told the BBC.
“It’s extremely difficult to get people who are desperate and who do not want to get on a flight onto a flight.”
He said RAF aircraft would be needed - piling pressure on the stretched air force.
“You won’t be able to use civilian flights, you’ll have to use military aircraft - our military aircraft are needed for other matters.” He also said costs would be “astronomical” and “eye-watering”.
Under a five-year deal starting yesterday, anyone the Home Office deems “inadmissible” to claim asylum in the UK can now be forcibly removed to Rwanda. They will have no option to apply for asylum in Britain.
People who passed through a “safe” country can be deemed inadmissible under new rules the Tories pushed through post-Brexit.
No10 policy chief Andrew Griffith last night said he hoped flights will be operational in "weeks, or a small number of months".
But Boris Johnson admitted the scheme could be held up by legal challenges.
An expert raised fears whole families could try to cross the Channel to thwart Boris Johnson’s bid to target single men under 40.
Charlie Yaxley, a former Mediterranean crisis spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told the Mirror: “Whenever you close one door, refugees will open a window somewhere else.
“After the war in Libya you still had families putting their babies and whole family on board boats in the Mediterranean. Whether that would now happen in Calais - it’s possible.”
Mr Yaxley added: "The reason they send single young men is the family can then reunite afterwards under the family reunification programme, which the government are trying to water down."
