Economics expert Dr Alice Mesnard reacts to the new controversial British immigration law known as the Rwanda Bill. She believes refugees will be at risk of greater harm, irregular migrants are unlikely to be deterred from entering the UK, and UK taxpayers will ultimately foot the bill.
By Eve Lacroix (Senior Communications Officer), Published
The “Safety of Rwanda” bill is costly, unethical and likely to be ineffective, according to Dr Alice Mesnard, Reader in Economics at City, University of London.
In the evening of Monday 22 April 2024, after five hours of debate, the British parliament passed the highly controversial Rwanda bill which will see asylum seekers regularly sent to Rwanda.
The bill aims to deter migrants from making perilous journeys across the Channel in small boats to seek refuge in the UK. The United Nations has warned the bill is in breach of the Refugee Convention.
Overnight, five migrants died (including a seven-year old girl, a woman and three men) off the coast of France attempting one of these journeys across the Channel in a small dinghy boat.
City academic Dr Mesnard researches the drivers and impacts of migration, the impacts of border closure policies on irregular migrants and refugees, and the design of legalisation policies to weaken smuggling markets.
Discussing the Rwanda bill, she said:
All quotes can be attributed to Dr Alice Mesnard, Reader in Economics at City, University of London.
Her recent paper 'Temporary foreign work permits; Honing the tools to defeat human smuggling', published in the European Economic Review, designed new temporary work permits and was co-authored by Professor Emmanuelle Auriol and Dr Tiffanie Perrault.
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