The “one in, one out” agreement on cross-Channel migration between the UK and France is due to end in October, according to French media reports.
Under the terms of the deal, asylum seekers who arrive in the UK in a small boat can be forcibly returned to France, in exchange for others in France who have not tried to cross the Channel being brought to the UK legally.
It has been criticised by NGOs and asylum seekers as unjust, due to an apparently random selection process, and inhumane, because some of those returned to France say their lives have been threatened by people smugglers based in northern France.
Migrant advocacy groups have been highly critical of the agreement. Doctors Without Borders has condemned the scheme as a “a cynical bargaining over human lives”. The NGO provides assistance to people sent back to France and has reported cases of acute stress disorder and disorientation.
A report in France’s Le Monde cites a French interior ministry source as saying the agreement will not be extended beyond October and that an action plan announced by the European Commission on 18 June is intended to replace the bilateral approach to asylum seekers crossing the Channel to the UK.
The Home Office has welcomed the EU Channel action plan, saying it sets out a more coordinated EU-level response to Channel crossings.
According to the Home Office, between last September when removals started and 9 June this year, 921 asylum seekers were returned to France and 896 were brought to the UK legally. Between 15 and 22 June, 1,939 asylum seekers arrived in the UK on small boats.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The government’s agreement with France has been extended until the autumn. This will ensure we will continue to remove migrants who arrive on small boats over the summer.”
Critics of the one in, one out scheme have expressed doubts that it has acted as the deterrent Keir Starmer had hoped it would be when he announced the “groundbreaking” deal alongside Emmanuel Macron during the latter’s state visit to the UK last July.
The Telegraph has reported that people smugglers in France are now doing detours, making journeys from France to the UK up to 80 miles, approximately four times the shortest cross-Channel journey.
Asylum seekers returned to France have told the Guardian they have received little support there, with some threatened with return to countries such as Syria. Others have returned to the UK for a second time in lorries or small boats, leading to an amendment to the policy this month allowing for France to accept back some asylum seekers who have returned to the UK by lorry.