Since the disclosure of the UK government’s plan to send asylum-seekers off to Rwanda, harsh reactions have been pouring in from all quarters.
In the latest of the long list of condemnations, Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said “sub-contracting out our responsibilities” to refugees cannot stand up to God’s scrutiny, media reports said.
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In the Easter Sunday sermon at Canterbury Cathedral in southeast England, the Anglican church leader made the direct political intervention, which was unusual.
There are “serious ethical questions about sending asylum-seekers overseas. Sub-contracting out our responsibilities, even to a country that seeks to do well, like Rwanda, is the opposite of the nature of God, who himself took responsibility for our failures,” Welby said.
“While the details are for politics and politicians, the principle must stand the judgment of God and it cannot,” Welby added.
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In a statement over the plan, the Home Office has said Britain had settled hundreds of thousands of refugees from around the world.
“However, the world is facing a global migration crisis on an unprecedented scale and change is needed to prevent vile people smugglers putting people’s lives at risk and to fix the broken global asylum system,” it said.
(With inputs from agencies)
