The UK and France signed a new deal in Paris on Monday to try to reduce the number of people crossing the English Channel. A security deal but not humanitarianwhich does not open a safe channel for the arrival of asylum seekers in Great Britain, without running the risk of sinking their makeshift boats in the icy waters of the channel.
A measure that has not stopped the traffic: this Monday the migrants, rescued in the water by the border guard, continued to arrive one of the coldest days of winter which begins. More than 40,000 people have made the journey so far this year, according to the UK’s MoD.
For the first time, UK agents will work in France to help solve the problem. A resolution adopted by Emmanuel Macron and Rishi Sunakin their meeting at the climate summit in Egypt, which smoothed the rough edges of the report from the times of Boris Johnson and used another language, not compliant with conservative MPs.
British money and officers in France
British officers will be stationed in French and control rooms will share live intelligence for the first time. The French government will also undertake to significantly increase the number of officers who they patrol the beaches of the Channel for detect and interrupt crossings.
UK’s annual payments to France to help police at the border will increase 72 million euros (£63m) in 2022-23, up from €62.7m (£54.8m) in 2021-22.
The UK sends a total of €200m (£174.8m) each year to address all matters relating to the British border.
the deal
- A 40% increase in the number of officers patrolling the beaches of northern France to increase early detection and disruption of illegal small boat crossings.
- Investments in port security infrastructure in France to prevent the illegal entry of trucks. This includes strengthened surveillance, more CCTV, new surveillance technology and dog tracking equipment.
- More technology to better equip officers to avoid intersections, including drones and night vision capabilities.
- Agreement to step up cooperation with European partners, with plans for a meeting of neighboring countries of the “Calais Group” as soon as possible to accelerate progress.
- A new task force, focused on reversing the recent surge of Albanian nationals and organized crime groups exploiting illegal migration routes to Western Europe and the UK.
- Joint Franco-British analysis teams to build on existing channels of information sharing and enhance operational cooperation as part of the French command headquarters.
- Investment in reception and removal centers in France for migrants whose travel to the UK is prevented, to discourage attempts to cross and provide them with safe options instead.
Sunak, another rhetoric
Although the agreement was signed by respective interior ministers in France, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised the new multibillion-dollar security pact between Britain and France from the plane that was taking him to the G20 meeting in Bali.
The British prime minister said the deal is essential to “control of illegal immigration on small boats”. He said he made it a priority in his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month.
He hopes there will be “even more cooperation in the coming months” with plans for a new deal next year.
After the agreement was signed, Suella Braverman, the British Home Secretary, said that “there was no quick fix, there is no silver bullet”. But he stated that the number of immigrants arriving in Britain was “totally unacceptable”.
The British Ministry of Defense announced it on Sunday more than 40,000 people crossed the Channel de la Mancha this year, with 972 people detected on Saturday alone.
more dangerous journeys
The migration deal between the UK and France will lead to “the most dangerous journeys”, This was stated by Amnesty International, the humanitarian organization.
The idea should be to help reduce the number of people crossing the Channel. But the humanitarian organization declared the agreement it will encourage more people to cross. The UK should accept “its share of people in its asylum system”, like the rest of the European countries.
Amnesty’s director of migrant rights, Steve Valdez-Symonds, said: “This deal is the same as previous deals: spend money and resources to intercept and hinder to people crossing the Channel, doing nothing to satisfy their need for safe access to an asylum system”.
“The inevitable result will be more dangerous journeys and greater profits, led by ruthless gangs of smugglers and other serious criminals, who are taking advantage of the refusal of the British and French governments to assume and share responsibility,” he said.
“To perpetuate this terrible human suffering, da recycle the same failed answer punishing and deterring desperate people in miserable and insecure conditions, has become reckless to the point of cruelty,” Amnesty said.
“Unless the UK government accepts its share of people in its asylum system, particularly people with UK family and connections, there seems to be little chance anything will change, let alone improve.” Amnesty’s Steve Valdez Symonds said.
Great Britain is one of the countries that receive fewer asylum seekers compared to the rest of the EU. Brexit was successful because British society rejected foreigners came to dwell in the kingdom.
Conservative MPs against
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke has criticized the government’s deal signed with France to try to limit the number of people crossing the English Channel.
Elphicke tweeted that the deal “He’s not up to par of what it takes”.
“It doesn’t match the scale or urgency of the small craft crisis, or the increased risk of loss of life, as winter approaches,” he said.
But no one is happy with the deal: the union representing UK frontier workers said today’s UK-France deal on immigration did not address ‘hot spots’.
“Stopping crossing attempts to let them go only to try again would not have the required impact,” said Lucy Moreton of the Union of Border Enforcement, Immigration and Customs.
Moreton told Times Radio that nothing in the deal suggested “the French would step away” from their current position.
“The critical points have not been addressed,” he said. She added that intercepting migrants trying to reach the UK again is not something the French “ever wanted to do”.
From the French point of view “they are on the right track and it is completely understandable that they are not very interested in interrupting it”.
France believes the international law of the sea forces to rescue migrants and take them to a safe port and signed this convention.
Moreton said the UK he needed to deal with the problem himselfallocating resources to the “much better justice system than it was” previously to process asylum applications more quickly.
Paris, correspondent
Source: Clarin
