'Progressive' Rwanda is safe for gay migrants, UK minister Michael Tomlinson insists

Rwanda is a “very progressive” country and gay migrants can be safely sent there, a UK minister said on Tuesday after the Government finally pushed its deportation scheme through Parliament.

Illegal Migration Minister Michael Tomlinson praised the East African nation’s record in general despite repeated criticism by human rights organisations alleging that President Paul Kagame’s government is harshly intolerant of dissent.

Asked if “openly gay” migrants could be sent safely to Rwanda, he said: “Yes they can, because it’s set out within the constitution.

“It is not unlawful to be gay in Rwanda and discrimination on any grounds is unlawful in Rwanda,” Mr Tomlinson told Times Radio.

“Actually Rwanda is a very progressive country,” he said, stressing that the country is already home to more than 135,000 refugees and asylum seekers.

He added: “Frankly some of the debate we’ve heard in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, not recently but in the early days, was very patronising and almost supercilious in looking down at Rwanda.”

Human Rights Watch in its latest annual report acknowledged that Rwanda is one of a few countries in East Africa that does not criminalise consensual same-sex relations, “and the government’s policies are generally seen as progressive”.

But in practice, it said, LGBT people have faced “stigma”, and Rwanda had rejected some asylum claims from individuals persecuted for their sexual orientation or gender identity in their home country.

Overall, the report detailed arrests and trials of “real and perceived opponents of the government” including bloggers and journalists. It claimed: “Some said they were tortured in detention. The authorities rarely investigated enforced disappearances or suspicious deaths.”

In a briefing note released to support the Safety of Rwanda Bill, the Home Office stressed that the country was seen as “more progressive” than others in the region but acknowledged that LGBT people might “face some discrimination in practice in Rwanda”, including from the conservative Christian Church.

It quoted one Rwandan gay rights activist as saying: “Homosexuality is not criminalised in Rwanda, but many LGBTI people keep their sexuality and gender identity secret in an attempt to avoid rejection, discrimination and abuse… This has led many more to choose to silence when faced with injustice.”

Mr Tomlinson’s comments came after Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell on Monday praised Mr Kagame’s “remarkable regime” for pulling the country back from a genocidal civil war in the 1990s.

“If you look at the statistics, Kigali is arguably safer than London,” Mr Mitchell claimed. The Foreign Office did not immediately respond when asked to share the relevant statistics.

According to UN data, the murder rate in Rwanda is three times higher than in Britain. The African country also rates well in international rankings for petty and organised crime.