Denmark’s Minister of Immigration affairs, Kaare Dybvad Bek, has announced that his country will soon open an office in Kigali that will process illegal asylum seekers who will be removed from Denmark and transferred to Rwanda, The New Times, reported on Aug. 20.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 18, and signed by Bek indicated that; “Denmark and Rwanda share a wish to help more refugees better than today and to fight irregular and life-threatening migration, including across the Mediterranean.”
Bek added, “Our shared goal is to reform the current, flawed asylum system and ensure a dignified and sustainable future for refugees and migrants. I am therefore pleased that we will soon be able to open an office in Rwanda.”
The office will also enable Denmark to expand cooperation with Rwanda in areas of mutual interest, including climate, good governance as well as asylum and migration.
It is also expected to strengthen bilateral relations and will work in line with the two cooperation agreements reached between the two countries last year.
One of the agreements is about asylum and migration issues and the other on political dialogue and cooperation, reads the statement.
A statement issued by Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs last year, after the signing of the MoUs on Cooperation regarding Asylum and Migration Issues, aims to strengthen bilateral dialogue on new and sustainable solutions to current migration and refugee challenges.
Denmark already provides support to the Emergency Transit Mechanism in Gashora. Receiving asylum seekers from Denmark in Rwanda and processing asylum applications to Denmark is not part of this MoU.
Rwanda and Denmark are parties to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol framework and are committed to the protection of refugees and asylum seekers.
In a related development, Flemming Møller Mortensen, Danish Minister for Development, stated that Rwanda is a country that works actively to both promote its socio-economic development and lift Africa’s challenges.