E get one group of migrants wey di British goment bin transfer to Rwanda from one remote UK territory over a year ago.
Di migrants tok say dem feel isolated and unsafe – one of dem describe di African kontri as “open prison”.
Political parties already dey divided ova di controversial plan of di goment to send asylum seekers from di UK to Rwanda.
Di BBC travel go di African kontri to speak to four of di migrants wey already dey dia – even though na under one separate agreement – about dia experience for di kontri.
Di small group bin come from Diego Garcia, one island for di Indian Ocean. Dem say Rwanda no fit meet some of dia complex medical needs, especially for some cases wey happun as a result of past rape and torture.
Each of dem dey receive di equivalent of $50 (£39) evri week for food and oda essentials, but under di terms of dia stay – wey dem bin agree wit di UK and Rwandan goments – dem no dey permitted to work.
Di four of dem say dem dey face harassment and unwanted sexual advances for street.
Dem tok say dem dey, in effect, “self-imprisonment” – dem dey fear well well to go outside – while dem dey wait for di UK to find permanent place wia dem go live.
Dem tranfer di group – all Sri Lankan Tamils to Rwanda for urgent medical care afta suicide attempts.
Dem don come out from military hospital now and dem dey live for two flats wey dey for di outskirts of di capital, Kigali, wey di British authorities don pay for.
Dia legal status for Rwanda no dey di same wit di asylum seekers wey dem bin fly go dia from di UK – but one lawyer wey dey represent two out of di four say dia “negative experiences dey raise serious concerns” about di ability of Rwanda to offer a safe place for “refugees wey dey very vulnerable”.
One senior Rwandan official tell di BBC say she get “complete faith” for her kontri medical system and dem no dey share di migrants’ concerns about dia personal safety give odas. “We get foreign population wey dey grow for here,” she add.
To protect dia identities, we change di name of di migrants.
None of di four of dem bin try to enta di UK – instead dem file asylum claims on Diego Garcia, wey dem dey use as secret UK-US military base.
Dem dey among dozens of pipo wey land for di island for October 2021 – BBC bin report dis tori.
Dem tok say dem bin no dey run from suffer and dem bin no dey try to sail to Canada to claim asylum.
Di four wey we meet for Rwanda say dem be victims of torture and sexual violence for dia home kontris – some na sake of dia past links wit di Tamil Tiger rebels, wey dem defeat for Sri Lanka civil war 15 years ago.
For one quiet road, inside two-bedroom apartment, Azhagu tok say dem don diagnose say im get severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and im no dey certain about im future and di isolation dey make tins worse.
“We no dey get proper medical treatment. We get mental health issues,” na wetin di 23-year-old tok.
“Anytime we go tell di doctors about our problems dem no dey fit help us.”
Im claim say Rwandan medical staff bin don shout for am, and on one occasion na afta im harm imsef, im tok say dem threaten am wit arrest and say dem go send am back to Diego Garcia.
Mayur wey dey 26 years, wey dey share di apartment, say im don tire for counselling. Im say im no dey get proper medicine and im no fit get “good conversation”. “Na why I no wan go di hospital,” im add.
Lawyer Tom Short, wey from UK firm Leigh Day, say one independent expert assessment find out say “each of our clients get complex medical needs wey dem no dey fit meet for Rwanda”.
We approach di military hospital wia all di Tamils bin don dey receive treatment since, but dem refer us to di Rwanda goment.
Di top Rwandan official in charge of di deal to transfer asylum seekers from di UK, Doris Uwicyeza Picard, defend her kontri medical system – she add say dem dey treat di migrants “to di best of our ability”.
Three of di migrants – di two young men and one woman, Lakshani – bin don get dia claims for international protection wey di British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot) administration wey dey run Diego Garcia approve.
Di United Nations and lawyers wey dey represent di group say dis, in effect, don give dem refugee status. The fourth pesin for di group – Lakshani father, Khartik – get permissionto accompany im daughter.
E mean say dem no go fit return di group to Sri Lanka, but di UK bin tok say dem no go accept dem.
Di Conservative goment bill tell di BBC last year say Biot “no go fit back di backdoor to enta UK”.
Even though Biot fall under British sovereignty, dem dey describe as “constitutionally distinct (different)”.
Di group for Rwanda show us legal documents, WhatsApp messages, emails and letters wey dem don write ova di past year to British officials, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, wia dem dey ask make dem move dem.
“I no know how many more years wey we go live as stateless prisoners of di British goment witout freedom,” na wetin dem write for one of di messages.
Four of dem also tell us how di harassment don put fear or dia body to even comot from dia homes.
For Lakshani apartment, one grey curtain dey cover di barred windows – e dey block di room from di outside world.
“We no dey go outside. We dey fear evritime,” na wetin di 23-year-old tell us wen we visit her and Khartik wey dey 47 years. “I no get any women hia. No friends.”
Both of dem tok say pipo bin don try to break into dia apartment many times. Dem dey show us videos wey appear to show intruders wey neighbours catch.
Dem also recall one incident wey happun for nearby street, wen, dem say, a group of men bin separate dem and try to touch Lakshani wit “very words wey no dey appropriate”.
Dem tok say di experience, and odas like am, bin don dey trigger di two of dem. Lakshani say she dem don sexually assault her before inside Sri Lanka and for Diego Garcia.
Azhagu tell us say dem bin don propose sex to im and Mayur for street. “Strangers come meet us and ask us ‘I fit have sex wit you?’ Pipo start to laugh. We run go hospital.”
Di two of dem report dia concerns to Crown Agents, one non-profit international development company wey dey work wit di UK goment and serves as di migrants’ main point of contact for Rwanda.
Di four of dem tell us say Crown Agents no dey take dia complaints serious.
“Dem ask me: ‘Why you dey go out wen you know say you go enta trouble?’” Azhagu tok, im recall one of di conversations wit di company. “I bin ask dem: ‘Why una dey keep us hia wen you know say trouble dey?’ Dem no respond.”
Crown Agents no respond to specific allegations wen di BBC approach dem for comments.
Lawyers wey dey represent di group say dem don raise plenti incidents of street harassment and break-ins wit Biot officials, wey neva “substantively respond”.
Di Biot administration no respond to requests for comment.
Di four of dem tell us say dem bin neva meet Rwandan police for help. All of dem tok say dem no trust di men in uniformed law enforcement base on dia past experiences of abuse.
Di senior Rwandan official, Ms Picard, say she “no sure how dem go fit help if di pipo neva approach di national authorities”.
“We no dey share di concerns of di migrants about dia safety to anybody. Not by Rwandans, not residents,” she tell di BBC. “E break my heart to hear say somebody fit no dey feel safe for dis kontri, especially wen we don work very hard to make dis kontri safe for everybody.”
Di UK goment foreign travel advice say crime levels dey relatively low for Rwanda, but cases of burglary, tiff-tiff, bag-snatching and mugging dey for Kigali.
Di Tamils gree say dem bin don get positive interactions for Rwanda but say di negative experiences don increase dia past trauma and e dey make dem fear.
Lakshani and Khartik say dia living situation for Rwanda beta pass Diego Garcia camp, wia dem bin dey sleep for tents inside di camp wey rats plenti, wit limited phone access, and dem no fit cook dia own food.
E get one fifth Tamil wey remains for Rwanda afta dem also fly am from Diego Garcia sake of suicide attempt.
Im still dey find way to claim international protection. Di BBC don follow am tok for phone, sake of say im currently dey for di military hospital and dem no go allow am comot.
Di BBC see letter we formally discharge am – di letter tok say make dem treat am as outpatient (pesin wey go dey come from house to receive treatment). Im tok say dem dey keep am for dia by force afta dem no refusing to return to Diego Garcia. His lawyer has called on Biot to secure a solution for him.
Dem bin don tell di four migrants wey we meet say, if dem no wan stay for Rwanda, dem fit go back to Diego Garcia camp until dem resettle dem for a “safe third kontri”.
Di Foreign Office no respond to BBC questions about weda dem bin consider Rwanda as a “safe third kontri” to permanently resettle di group.
Wen we ask di migrants about di British goment plan to use Rwanda to process and house some asylum seekers from di UK, all of dem tok say dem no get any concerns. “Those refugees go endure di same difficulties and hardship we face,” one of dem tok.
Leigh Day lawyer Tom Short say di UK goment bin leave im two clients for Rwanda wit no certainty and for “situation wey dem dey make small sex advances”.
Court documents, wey dem keep for London, argue say di migrants’ treatment for Rwanda, and for Diego Garcia, “amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment contrary to international law”.
Rwandan official Ms Picard say “no similarity” between di group of Tamils and di ones wey fit move from di UK – wey go, dey “processed and integrated into our society”.
Ms Picard say her kontri dey “always open” to get conversations about settling di Diego Garcia group permanently, and say if e happun, dem go “give dem all di protections and guarantees and di integration needs wey dem suppose get”.
But “right now dem dey treat dem as pipo wey dey evacuate wey need medical treatment”, she tok.
Dem no give Rwanda any money to take in and house di migrants from Diego Garcia, na wetin Ms Picard tok, and di “only link” wit di UK-Rwanda asylum deal say di two kontris na “very strong partners”.
Di Foreign Office no accept BBC requests to provide details of di Diego Garcia arrangement.
Dem bin agree on di deal was agreed wit unsigned diplomatic notes wey dem written in di third person – known as “notes verbales” – wey dem bin send between di British Embassy for Kigali and di Rwandan goment.
Di Foreign Office tell us say to release di information under a Freedom of Information request go “spoil di relations” between di two kontris.
Di Conservatives and di Labour no wan comment on di fate of di Diego Garcia migrants for Rwanda or wetin dem fit do wit dem if dem win di election.
Di two parties don pledge to bring net migration down, but Labour don tok say dem fit scrap di plan of di Conservatives’ to fly some asylum seekers from di UK to Rwanda.
Mr Sunak don make di Rwanda plan a key priority of im premiership, as im argue say e go stop pipo wey dey crossing di English Channel wit small boats.
Labour don describe di scheme – wey don already cost taxpayers £310m – as a “con from start to finish”.
Inside statement, di Liberal Democrats describe di cases of Tamils for Rwanda as “deeply concerning” and say dem need to “ investigate dem properly”.
Di Conservatives’ policy to send asylum seekers from di UK to Rwanda, dey ”immoral, unworkable and incredibly expensive [for] taxpayers”. Dem add.
Di Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer don describe di Rwanda plan as “harsh” and “inhumane” – dem add say di way to stop pipo make dem no risk dia lives for small boats na to provide “safe and legal routes” for dem to apply for asylum from overseas.
For one interview wit Today on BBC Radio 4, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage be like say im wan troway di party official draft policy – say e fit use British Overseas Territories to process claims of asylum seekers wey dey come from safe countries sharp sharp. “I no think say e dey terribly practical,” im tok – im add say dem suppose to deport two pipo wey enta UK illegally.
Di UN refugee agency don call on di UK to “secure solutions” for di group for Rwanda, and about 60 asylum seekers wey still dey for Diego Garcia, in line wit dia “international obligations”.
As dem dey wait, di migrants continue to dream of dia future for anoda place.
“We dey wonder weda we go dey thankful to Britain for saving our lives wen we land for Diego Garcia, or weda we go vex for dem as dem make our life incomplete,” Mayur tok.
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