THE PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTBETWEEN THE UNITEDKINGDOM AND RWANDA INTHE CONTEXT OFPOSTCOLONIALISM ANDEXTERNALIZATION : Critical discourse analysis of GOV.UK documents about thepartnership agreement between the UK and Rwanda

Abstract: Externalization agreements have become more common in Europe after 2015, and one of the mostrecent ones is the Migration and Economic Development Partnership agreement between the UnitedKingdom (UK) and Rwanda. According to that agreement people who are seeking safety from theUK are going to be transferred to Rwanda where their asylum claim is assessed and if they are grantedrefugee status they are going to be settled in Rwanda. This study conducted a critical discourse analysis on documents about the partnership agreement thatwere published on the GOV.UK website. The study used postcolonialism and the concept ofexternalization as theoretical framework. Through critical discourse analysissix discourses were uncovered. These were: partnership discourse,safe third country discourse, the UK as a safe haven discourse, we versus they discourse,securitization discourse and innovation discourse. These discourses revealed that colonial timesstereotypes are still affecting the way that refugees are presented in the documents. And that whilethe documents aim to create a picture of collaboration and equality, the agreement itself is part of aworld that is affected by colonial times power relations, which affects Rwanda’s abilities to bargainthe agreement and how the roles of the agreement have been created. Therefore, the agreementfollows and recreates colonial discourses and power structures. The study also found that thepartnership agreement can be seen as externalization agreement as it externalizes refugee protectionto Rwanda and is justified by similar arguments that are common in externalization practices.