Man sent to France under ‘one in, one out’ scheme returns to UK on small boat | Immigration and asylum
A man sent back to France under a “one in, one out” plan returned to England on a small boat, the Guardian has learned.
The man, who sought asylum in the UK and spoke to the Guardian since his return, is being held in an immigration detention center in the UK and claims he is a victim of modern slavery at the hands of traffickers in northern France.
Home Office sources have confirmed that a person deported to France is now in the UK under the UK-France agreement, which allows people to be sent back to the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats on condition that they use the same number in France to bring them back to the UK legally.
“If I felt that France was safe for me, I would never return to England,” the man said.
He told the Guardian: “When we returned to France, we were taken to a shelter in Paris. I didn’t dare to go out because I was afraid for my life. Smugglers are very dangerous. They always carry guns and knives. When I first crossed from France to England, I fell prey to a human trafficking ring in the French forests.
“They took me like a worthless object, forced me to work, harassed me, threatened me with a gun, and told me that I would be killed if I objected even the slightest.
“Every day and every night I was filled with fear and stress. Every day I live in fear and anxiety, every noise, every shadow, every unfamiliar face scares me.
“When I first arrived in the UK I was crying when the Home Office asked me what had happened and I couldn’t talk about it out of embarrassment.”
The organization Human Rights Network said it had received many testimonies from asylum seekers currently in the UK about abuse by smugglers in northern France.
Maddie Harris, founder and director of the Human Rights Network, recently visited asylum seekers who were returned to France under the “one-in, one-out” programme.
He said: “We regularly hear from people who have spent time in France and passed through Dunkirk and Calais to get to the UK that they have witnessed or experienced violence and exploitation by smugglers and traffickers. This includes people being forced to steer a boat, physical violence, slavery, beatings, stabbings and sexual violence.
“The men we spoke to to send them to France under the ‘one in, one out’ scheme described the horror of returning to a country where they did not feel safe.
“They expressed concern about the large number of people seeking asylum in France who are currently destitute and living on the streets.”
It was learned that some people who were sent back to France received notification that their fingerprints had previously been taken in another EU country within the scope of the so-called EU decision. Dublin schemeIn this context, the first EU member country the asylum seeker reaches is generally responsible for the asylum request.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a statement saying that 16 small boats that arrived in France last week on the largest group flight ever were returned, bringing the total number of returns to 42. So far 23 asylum seekers have been brought to the UK under a “one in, one out” deal.
The French interior ministry denied that conditions for asylum seekers returned to France were harsh and said returnees were accommodated during assessment and those who agreed to voluntarily return to their home country were taken to a return preparation centre.
A spokesman for the ministry said: “France will implement ‘Dublin’ transfers (the sending of asylum seekers to the European Union country to which they first applied) in accordance with Community law, within the general framework of migration relations with other member states.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We will not accept any abuse of our borders and will do everything we can to remove those who have no legal right to be here. People who are returned to the pilot and subsequently attempt to re-enter the UK illegally will be deported.”
