Home Office admits LGBTQI+ refugees could be persecuted if sent to Rwanda

Report on policy to send gay and lesbian asylum seekers to east African country raises concerns over their possible treatment

The Home Office has admitted that lesbian, gay and bisexual refugees could be persecuted if sent to Rwanda – but still plans to fly them 4,000 miles to Kigali.

The department’s equality impact assessment for the policy states there are “concerns” over the treatment of some LGBTQI+ people in the east African country, and that investigations point to “ill treatment” of this group being “more than one off”.