In April, the British government announced plans to send asylum seekers to the east African country, but earlier this month expected lawyers to launch a lawsuit to prevent their deportation.
The UK government has started notifying those likely to be relocated, with the first flights expected to take place in the coming months, Britain’s Home Office said in a statement.
The plan, intended as an attempt to disrupt the people-smuggling gangs’ business model, prompted concerns about Rwanda’s human rights record, which the British government itself noted last year.
“According to the information we have, the first group of migrants will arrive by the end of the month, but … it is the British government that knows how many will come and when they will come,” said Alain Mukurarinda, Rwanda’s deputy government spokesman called.
“Once they have their (asylum-seeker) status, they will go and live with other Rwandans. You will be free. They will not be prisoners,” Mukurarinda said.
Last year more than 28,000 migrants and refugees made the crossing from mainland Europe to the UK on rickety boats. Britain has said the plan to send people to Rwanda would initially cost £120m ($158m).
“The UK’s decision to return asylum-seekers to Rwanda is a breach of its international obligations and, quite simply, cruel,” said Lewis Mudge, director for Central Africa at Human Rights Watch.
On Thursday, the Rwandan government showed journalists around hostels that were being converted to house the migrants.
Full bed and board at Hope Guesthouse will cost the UK government 72,000 Rwandan francs ($71) per person per day, said Ismail Bakina, the facility’s manager.