When British forces pulled out of Afghanistan, lots of service personnel and veterans were horrified at our abandoning all those Afghans who had worked alongside British forces acting as interpreters or providing other vital local support. Only a tiny number made it out in time. Those that remained were rendered acutely vulnerable by virtue of their contact with and work for the British military.
It is now all but impossible for anyone to apply to come to the UK ‘legally’. Suggestions to the contrary are a complete fiction. So some of those Afghans have come here as asylum seekers and have crossed on small boats. These are the same people we called heroes for helping our troops, or shed tears for as they were abandoned to the Taliban.
Now the Government wants to be able to send the tiny number that are able to make it here, to Rwanda.
An amendment proposed by Lord Des Browne, former Defence Secretary, would exempt those that had worked with British forces overseas from removal to Rwanda. The Government will be considering the amendment (and others) after Easter.
The Rwanda Bill is incompatible with the UK’s international human rights obligations. For any country that purports to respect and uphold human rights, it is an unconscionable piece of legislation. Service personnel and veterans should have a particular interest in and concern for this part of the Bill and should urge their MPs to accept the amendment when the Bill returns to the Commons. While serving service personnel are not permitted to communicate with Parliament or the press, they are allowed to contact their own MPs.
Any veterans or service personnel that would like to contact us about the campaign to amend the Bill should message us directly and in confidence via twitter or contact us via the website.