Refugees at greater risk of harm following Rwanda Bill, says Dr Alice Mesnard • City, University of London

Economics expert Dr Alice Mesnard reacts to the new controversial British immigration law known as the Rwanda Bill. She believes refugees will be at risk of greater harm, irregular migrants are unlikely to be deterred from entering the UK, and UK taxpayers will ultimately foot the bill.

By Eve Lacroix (Senior Communications Officer), Published Tuesday, 23^rd April 2024

The “Safety of Rwanda” bill is costly, unethical and likely to be ineffective, according to Dr Alice Mesnard, Reader in Economics at City, University of London.

In the evening of Monday 22 April 2024, after five hours of debate, the British parliament passed the highly controversial Rwanda bill which will see asylum seekers regularly sent to Rwanda.

The bill aims to deter migrants from making perilous journeys across the Channel in small boats to seek refuge in the UK. The United Nations has warned the bill is in breach of the Refugee Convention.

Overnight, five migrants died (including a seven-year old girl, a woman and three men) off the coast of France attempting one of these journeys across the Channel in a small dinghy boat.

City academic Dr Mesnard researches the drivers and impacts of migration, the impacts of border closure policies on irregular migrants and refugees, and the design of legalisation policies to weaken smuggling markets.

Discussing the Rwanda bill, she said:

The tragic news that at least five migrants have died in an attempt to cross the English Channel is just another reminder of the urgency of the situation.
According to my research on immigration, the idea that a policy like the Rwanda bill will break the business model of smugglers is not proven at all.
It’s more likely irregular migrants will find other ways to reach the UK, by paying more to smugglers. Furthermore, it is most likely to affect refugees to a greater extent than irregular migrants.
Opening legal pathways to safely enter the UK combined with increasing sanctions against illegal activities would be more effective to stop irregular migrants, beneficial to the economy overall, and likely to be less costly.
These legal pathways could include multiplying work visa schemes for economic migrants and increasing sanctions against illegal employment in the UK.
The Rwanda bill is highly questionable from both a human rights viewpoint and in terms of international law.
Given the policy’s feasible scale or enormous costs it would entail, it will not be credible as a deterrence tool.
The Rwanda bill will crowd the justice system, which will have to deal with lots of appeals.
The bill is not legal according to international conventions, as some asylum seekers will be pushed back to Rwanda before their case is settled in the UK.
Rwanda still needs to be established as a safe country for migrants first, rather than being simply stated as permanently safe by ministers. This current assessment casts a shadow on the British government.
The Rwanda policy is much more costly to UK citizens than the status quo.

All quotes can be attributed to Dr Alice Mesnard, Reader in Economics at City, University of London.

Her recent paper 'Temporary foreign work permits; Honing the tools to defeat human smuggling', published in the European Economic Review, designed new temporary work permits and was co-authored by Professor Emmanuelle Auriol and Dr Tiffanie Perrault.

For more information, please contact the City Press Office.

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