An official report has discovered that the previous Conservative government mostly relied on testimony from Rwandan authorities when determining that the nation was a secure destination for asylum seekers.

The Home Office's "country of origin information," which determined whether Rwanda was a secure destination for asylum seekers, was examined by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI).

Despite evidence to the contrary being presented by attorneys and human rights observers, including the UNHCR, the study concluded that Rwanda was a secure country.

Donors charged that the previous administration was "gaslighting" them over Rwanda's dismal human rights record.

The ICIBI discovered that the government's reports fell short of "minimum standards" for research and contained a dearth of important details regarding the Rwandan asylum system, leaving significant gaps and unsolved issues.

According to the research, the majority of the sources contacted by UK government officials to verify Rwanda's safety were government officials or those with connections to the administration in Rwanda. Rwandan government representatives claimed they had to watch when testimony from non-government citizens was obtained.

The findings raise wider questions about the reliability of government country safety assessments. Labour has scrapped Tory plans to fly people who arrived in the UK on small boats to be processed in Rwanda, but has not ruled out processing asylum seekers in another country in the future.

The ICIBI report was first sent to the Home Office in July 2022 but was delayed by more than two years because officials said they would not engage with it until legal challenges to the Rwanda plan had concluded.

David Bolt, the interim independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, said in the report: “The review raises important questions about the Home Office’s approach and methodology in producing country information that is relevant to future reviews.”

The reviewer of the government’s Rwanda safety reports, Stephanie Huber, described as “an experienced country information reviewer”, said that in a document of such high importance with major implications for people’s lives, she expected a “certain standard” of research from the government.

"This report vindicates Human Rights Watch and the many other organizations who never wavered in their conviction that Rwanda is not a safe country to send asylum seekers," stated Yasmine Ahmed, the director of Human Rights Watch in the UK.

"Hopefully, the government's deceit about Rwanda's human rights record will come to a stop with this report. Offshore processing is expensive, inefficient, and inhumane. Such initiatives ought to be categorically rejected by this new government.

The report included remarks from the Home Office regarding the particular critiques that were made. While they denied certain criticisms, officials acknowledged others. Home Office sources stated that since this was a problem for the previous government, they would not be commenting on the overall results.