‘We cannot have travel apartheid’: Archbishop slams travel bans as ‘morally wrong’

Justin Welby appealed to world leaders in a series of tweets

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby (archbishopofcanterbury.org)

The Archbishop of Canterbury has called for the lift of travel bans on certain countries due to the emergence of the omicron variant, saying, “We cannot have ‘travel apartheid’”.

In a series of tweets yesterday afternoon, Justin Welby called the bans on countries such as South Africa and Namibia “morally wrong” and “self defeating”, calling for “vaccine equity” instead of border closures.

“With #Omicron set to become the dominant variant in the UK, I appeal to the British government to remove Nigeria and South Africa from the red list – together with all other countries currently on it,” wrote the Archbishop.

“We must find fair and effective approaches for those who are vaccinated and tested to enter the UK. I agree with the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK – we cannot have ‘travel apartheid’,” he continued.

On Tuesday, Nigerian high commissioner Sarafa Tunji Isola told the BBC’s Today programme that the travel bans were unfair and unnecessary, saying: “What is expected is a global approach, not selective.

“The travel ban is apartheid in the sense that we are not dealing with an endemic. We are dealing with a pandemic. Whenever we have a challenge there must be collaboration.”

Shortly after early cases of the omicron variant were reported in South Africa, the UK added 10 southern African countries to its red list, meaning prohibitively expensive mandatory quarantine for all arrivals from those countries.

On Saturday, the UK added Nigeria to its red list, with a statement from ministers saying several UK cases of the variant had been linked with travel to the country.

Elsewhere, the US has banned arrivals from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi, including any traveller who has been in those countries in the past 14 days.

The EU also banned arrivals from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has also criticised the bans, calling them “scientifically unjustified” and calling for them to be “urgently” lifted.

“We call upon all those countries that have imposed travel bans on our country and our southern African sister countries to immediately and urgently reverse their decisions,” said Mr Ramaphosa in his first address to the nation after the detection of the omicron variant.