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Armenia denies entering talks with UK on migrant deportation scheme

Sputnik

Published: 19:34, 15 April 2024

Armenia denies entering talks with UK on migrant deportation scheme

Photo: Collected

Armenia rejected reports on Monday (15 April) that it had held negotiations with the United Kingdom about deporting asylum seekers to the South Caucasus nation.

Earlier in the day, The Times newspaper reported, citing leaked documents from the UK Foreign Office, that London was allegedly in talks with Armenia, Botswana, Costa Rica and Cote d'Ivoire to create a migration agreement similar to the Rwanda deal that provides for deportation of refugees while their asylum applications are being processed in the UK.

"Armenia and the United Kingdom have a wide agenda for political dialogue, and there have been no substantive or technical negotiations on the topic raised in this report," Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ani Badalyan said.

The leaked documents reportedly contain information on the UK's attempts over the past 18 months to find countries interested in signing up for something similar to the Rwanda migrant scheme. The UK also allegedly considered cooperation with Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Brazil and Colombia, but they were "less likely to be interested" in inking such an agreement, while Morocco, Tunisia, Namibia and The Gambia "explicitly declined" to engage in the discussions, The Times reported. Angola, Cabo Verde, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo and Sierra Leone are on the reserve list of countries that London may approach if talks with the shortlisted countries fail, the report said.

Rwanda and the UK signed a migration agreement in 2022, under which people identified by the UK government as undocumented migrants or asylum seekers would be deported to Rwanda for processing, asylum and resettlement. The scheme has drawn criticism from human rights organizations, as well as numerous politicians and officials within the UK.

The first deportation flight was supposed to take place in June 2022 but never happened due to the intervention of the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled it unlawful. The UK government had to draft a new deal last year after the UK Supreme Court determined that the initial scheme did not guarantee the safety of asylum seekers.

Messenger/Mumu