Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

Like the UK Govt's Rwanda Plan, the Nazi's Madagascar Plan aimed to forcibly relocate a minority population of Europe to East Africa. The plan was not viable due to a British naval blockade, but it functioned as an important psychological step toward the Final Solution.

#Rwanda is NOT a "safe" country.

The US State Dept '2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices' reveals Rwanda to be one of the most autocratic, authoritarian, & repressive regimes on earth, currently ranked 126th out of 167 countries for democracy.

state.gov/reports/2021-c…

According to the US State Department, significant human rights issues in #Rwanda included credible reports of:

🚨unlawful or arbitrary killings by the Govt;

🚨forced disappearance by the Govt;

🚨torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the Govt;

🚨harsh & life-threatening prison conditions;

🚨arbitrary detention;

🚨political prisoners or detainees;

🚨politically motivated reprisals against individuals located outside the country, including killings, kidnappings, & violence;

🚨 unlawful interference with privacy;

🚨serious restrictions on free expression & media, including threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, & censorship;

🚨serious restrictions on internet freedom;

🚨substantial interference with the rights of peaceful assembly & freedom of association, including overly restrictive laws on the organization, funding, or operation of nongovernmental & civil society organizations;

🚨serious & unreasonable restrictions on political participation;

🚨and serious government restrictions on or harassment of domestic & international human rights organizations.

🚨In the context of the UK's #Rwanda Plan to forcibly relocate people there, one of the most concerning features of the US State Dept report is that "human rights advocates continued to report instances of illegally detained individuals tortured in unofficial detention centers".

🚨 "Conditions at Rwanda prisons and unofficial detention centers ranged from harsh and life threatening to approaching international standards."

🚨 "The Rwandan government was often intolerant of public reports of human rights abuses & suspicious of local & international human rights observers, & it often impeded independent investigations & rejected criticism as biased & uninformed."

🚨Human rights NGOs expressed fear of the Rwandan Govt. State security forces monitored their activities resulting in & self-censorship.

🚨NGOs working on human rights & deemed to be critical of the Govt experienced difficulties securing or renewing required legal registration.

🚨The Rwandan government conducted surveillance on some international & domestic NGOs.

🚨Some NGOs expressed concern that Government intelligence agents infiltrated their organizations to gather information, influence leadership decisions, or create internal problems.

🚨Individuals who contributed to international reports on human rights reported living under constant fear that the Rwandan Govt could arrest & prosecute them for the contents of their work. Some domestic NGOs focused on human rights abuses self-censored, limiting effectiveness.

🚨Most NGOs that focused on human rights, access to justice, and governance matters vetted their research and reports with the Rwandan government and refrained from publishing their findings without government approval.

Imho, the above evidence makes it crystal clear that one of the reasons the UK Government chose #Rwanda is that the chances of anyone in Britain finding out the REAL conditions that deportees will find themselves in will be all but impossible to fund out.

The whole thing stinks.

Of course, #Rwanda isn't the only country about which there is international concern over human rights & the rollback of democratic freedoms: the UK has now joined Hungary, South Africa, & Poland, having been downgraded from ‘narrowed’ to ‘obstructed’.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1636646539786420227?t=rCh2vHaopJcvAG0aDm4xZg&s=19

More evidence that the UK Government is now a far-right Government which relies on hateful, dangerously irresponsible rhetoric, & pure #propaganda to divide voters.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1635206816048242689?t=y6E49yOrm0xBKefQsXK_PQ&s=19

And as for Gary Lineker's claim that the UK Government sometimes 'uses language not dissimilar to that used in 1930s Germany', it is an honest & compassionate statement of indisputable fact, as @MichaelRosenYes so convincingly articulates here:

https://twitter.com/MichaelRosenYes/status/1635918291385430020?t=y6E49yOrm0xBKefQsXK_PQ&s=19