'France, UK deal on Channel crossings only raises risks for migrants'

By Umit Donmez

CALAIS, France (AA) – The new agreement between France and the UK to stop people trying to cross the English Channel will only increase the risks for migrants, a French NGO has warned.

Under the deal signed in Paris on Monday, the British government will pay France about €72.2 million ($74.6 million) in exchange for France boosting its security presence at coastal access points by 40% and enhancing surveillance measures.

The focus again remains on more policing, and this doctrine of security is doomed to fail, said William Feuillard, coordinator of L’Auberge des Migrants, an umbrella group of eight organizations working with migrants and refugees in Calais.

As an example, he cited the Channel disaster of November 2021, when 27 people were killed as their boat sank during the treacherous journey, making it the deadliest single incident on record.

Feuillard said measures taken after that tragedy were “useless,” stressing that the crossings continue to this day “because we do not address the root of the problem.”

Involving more police will not stop people from trying to cross the Channel in the hope for better lives, he said.

He said France and the UK were falling for an “illusion” and trying to “convince themselves that they will be able to control the entire border.”

It is much simpler to secure main points like a port or a train station, but here the objective is to control “more than 200 kilometers (125 miles) of coastline,” he explained.

“The more we increase security measures, the more risks people will take,” Feuillard said.

He said latest official estimates indicate there have been 40,000 crossings through the Channel this year.

“It’s a record. At this rate, we will continue to have more records, tragedies will continue to occur, and we will, unfortunately, (only) be … finding more corpses,” he said.

Since the 2000s, at least 355 migrants have lost their lives in the English Channel, while at least 203 people have died or gone missing, at sea or on land, since 2014 trying to reach England from northern France, he added.

“We know that this is not the actual figure and that more people have surely died. But this itself is too much,” Feuillard said.

- Revised deal

Monday’s agreement is part of the Sandhurst Treaty on border security that France and the UK signed in January 2018.

Along with the increased security presence, the two countries have also pledged to use more “technological resources,” including drones, to detect and intercept migrant boats.

However, contrary to London’s demands, the document signed by French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and British Home Secretary Suella Braverman does not mention a specific target for the number of crossings to be stopped.

Earlier this week, the UK Defense Ministry said a record 40,000 migrants have crossed the Channel this year.

According to data from the French Interior Ministry, more than 52,000 people attempted the hazardous journey in 2021, with more 28,500 succeeding in making the crossing.