Women for Refugee Women reported that it was in contact with a trafficking survivor who was recently issued a notice of intent to be considered for removal to Rwanda. Charity workers say that instead of offering the woman protection and a chance to rebuild her life in the UK, the government is proposing to force her against her will in Rwanda. The Guardian revealed on Sunday that the Home Office was planning a second flight to Rwanda after the first plane, due to take off for the country’s capital, Kigali, was grounded on June 14 following an 11th-hour intervention by the European Court of Justice. Human Rights. While the Home Office has not ruled out sending women and children to Rwanda alongside men, this is the first time a woman is understood to have received a notice of intent. Those destined for the first flight were all men. It is understood that dozens of male asylum seekers who were placed in immigration detention after their recent arrivals in the UK on small boats or trucks have also been issued with notices of intent for the second flight to Rwanda. Since December, a growing number of women who have recently arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel by boat have been detained on arrival and sent to the Derwentside immigration detention center in County Durham. Previously it was not Home Office practice to detain female asylum seekers on arrival in the UK. The Home Office began detaining women at the 84-bed center on 28 December 2021. There are around 40 women held there. Women for Refugee Women expressed particular concern at the Home Office’s decision to target women for removal to Rwanda ahead of the conclusion of a legal challenge launched in the high court against Home Secretary Priti Patel. The legal action centers on the government’s failure to provide legal advice in person to women in Derwentside. Other immigration detention centers have this provision. During the court case Patel’s lawyer said three new legal aid contracts had been awarded for Derwentside. A decision on the case is awaited. In a further indication that the Home Office may want to act ahead of court rulings, it is understood that the second scheduled flight to Rwanda is scheduled to take place before the full hearing of the high court appeal by Detention Action and Care4Calais , along with some asylum seekers threatened with forced removal to Rwanda, it was heard. The case centers on whether or not the new policy of outsourcing asylum seekers to Rwanda to process their claims is legal. It will take place on July 19. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Andrea Vukovic, deputy director at Women for Refugee Women said: “The news we have received confirms that this government’s cruelty to people seeking protection has no end. “We know that the majority of women in custody are already survivors of gender-based violence, including rape, and many will have been trafficked to the UK. The threat of their removal to Rwanda exposes them to further risk of violence and harm and is unimaginably cruel.” Emma Ginn, director of the charity Medical Justice, said: “We had 40 clients in detention who had a notice of intent to remove them to Rwanda. The vast majority of them are survivors of torture and human trafficking and the Home Office knows this. “The fact that they are even being held in immigration detention demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the Home Office’s vulnerability check. They should certainly not be taken to Rwanda.” The Home Office has been approached for comment.
