Hope Hostel in Rwanda: A New Haven for UK Asylum Seekers Facing Expulsion

Hope Hostel, a hotel in Kigali, Rwanda, is now welcoming asylum seekers from the UK who are facing expulsion to Rwanda. The hotel, formerly known as the Association of Student Survivors of Genocide (AERG) hostel, provided sanctuary for young people orphaned during the 1994 genocide.

The Rwandan government has designated the facility, with a capacity of 100 beds, as a transit center, the first of its kind. The maintenance of the facility is being funded by British taxpayers’ money under a 462.7 million US dollar agreement signed between the two countries in 2022, with Rwanda confirming receipt of some of the funds.

In April 2022, the UK government reached an agreement with Rwanda to transfer migrants who arrive in the UK as stowaways or by boat to Rwanda, where their asylum claims will be processed, and if approved, they will be allowed to stay.

The British Parliament passed legislation to relocate some migrants to Rwanda, paving the way for flights this summer as part of the government’s controversial strategy to prevent migrants from crossing the English Channel from France to the UK in small boats. Critics argue that sending migrants thousands of miles away is impractical and morally questionable.