Hold the French authorities accountable regardless of the point in the Channel where the migrants who seek to reach England are found.
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked officials in her department to rewrite the UK's interpretation of international maritime law to allow interception of boats carrying migrants in the Channel.
According to information from the British press, this decision was due to French inaction, which angered the British government.
On Wednesday, during a meeting with Gérald Darmanin, on the sidelines of a G7 of Interior Ministers on security, Priti Patel reaffirmed that "obtaining results and stopping the passages were an absolute priority for the British people ”.
Today I held constructive talks with French Interior Minister @GDarmanin on tackling illegal migration across the Channel.
I made clear that delivering results and stopping crossings were an absolute priority for the British people. # G7UK 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/UHVxbvhjJK
- Priti Patel (@pritipatel) September 8, 2021
According to the Times and the Guardian, in particular, the Border Force, the British border police, are being trained in new methods of turning back migrants' boats before they reach the south of England. The Interior Ministry issued a statement speaking of “recovery” tactics at sea, as part of a two-year plan. The maneuver consists of forcing the boats to return to French territorial waters. The agents would then contact the French coast guard to inform them that ships in French waters need to be rescued.
This strategy would only be used in "very limited circumstances" according to the Telegraph, for larger vessels and when the situation is deemed safe.
Current training, which is weather dependent, is slated to end this month, and new tactics rolled out as soon as possible.
"The safeguard of human life takes precedence"
"France will not accept any blackmail", reacted this Thursday Gerald Darmanin. In a letter addressed to the British Minister before their meeting, Gérald Darmanin opposed refoulements at sea. “At sea, the protection of human life takes precedence over considerations of nationality, status and migration policy with strict respect of international maritime law which organizes search and rescue at sea ”, he wrote, adding that this“ could have a negative impact on our cooperation ”.
On Wednesday, in front of Parliament, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has made toughening the fight against immigration a priority since Brexit, expressed his "indignation" at the resurgence of activity by smugglers, "gangsters , criminals, who take money from desperate and scared people to help them make a very, very dangerous crossing.
"The best possible way" to solve the problem is "to make sure that they do not leave the French coasts".
“We depend a lot on what the French do,” he said, shifting responsibility across the Channel.
On Monday, 785 migrants arrived in the UK illegally crossing the Channel, after a record 828 one-day crossings reached in August, according to London.
[# Operation] Search and rescue of 37 castaways off Calais (62) by the RIAS Abeille Languedoc under the coordination of #CROSS Gris-Nez ➡️https: //t.co/3kBYuiMopX pic.twitter.com/cuQuSLmnj7
- Prefecture maritime Channel and North Sea (@premarmanche) September 8, 2021
From the night of Sunday evening to Wednesday, France has carried out eleven rescue operations, to the aid of 198 migrants, according to the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
