The UK wants to change the 'law of the sea' in one of the most dangerous waters on the planet

Maria Laura Avignolo

09/09/2021 11:40 AM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 09/09/2021 11:40 AM

A serious crisis broke out between France and Great Britain due to migrants arriving in precarious boats from the French shores to British beaches.

The British interior minister, Priti Patel wants to change the law of the sea, which

forces the rescue of shipwrecked

in the water, to force future refugees to be returned in the middle of the English Channel to France.

A decision that

violates international and European law.

But France accused Priti Patel of "financial extortion" and "a stance" of the minister, now facing the conservative conference of her

deeply anti-immigrant party.

French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said the French government will not accept

"any practice contrary to maritime law

or financial extortion."

It was a reference to Patel's threat not to deliver to France the

54 million pounds

promised to combat the arrival of migrants from the French shores and to subject that budget to results and interception rates by the French.

Return them to France

Patel, who came with his Indian family to Britain from Uganda fleeing Idi Amin, sought legal advice so that Border Force ships, which patrol British waters,

can redirect those

migrant fortune

ships

to French waters, where the patrolmen of France must take them ashore.

The practices

are now ready to be applied

after a month-long Border Force training.

A ship overloaded with immigrants reaches the shores of England.

Photo: AP

But France believes that this "practice of rejection" will cause "a breach of trust and is illegal under international law and

dangerous to human life.

"

"Friendship between our countries deserves better than positions that undermine cooperation between our services," said French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

This year,

14,000 migrants

have crossed

into the kingdom from the French shores compared to 8,400 last year.

It is due to an unusually mild summer in Britain, which makes it easy to cross the world's busiest canal.

This year, 14,000 migrants have crossed into the kingdom from the French shores.

Photo: dpa

Ships can sink

The British Border Force union, a former naval chief and a Conservative deputy agreed with the French interior minister that

these tactics are too dangerous

and should not be deployed.

Lucy Moreton, an officer with the immigration services union, said she would be surprised if it was used "just once because

boats are vulnerable."

Migrants in a precarious boat in the middle of the English Channel.

Photo: AFP

Congressman Tim Loughton, conservative, and member of the Home Affairs committee, said that "it will never happen because

ships can sink

and migrants drown."

Admiral Chris Parry, a former NATO commander, explained that there are a

variety of tactics

migrants can use to evade Patel's strategy and force British ships to rescue them rather than escort them to France.

Modify the law of the sea

The tactics sought by Preti Patel, a far-rightist and a Brexiteer in Boris Johnson's cabinet, reveal the British government's frustration at the French decision to “not carry out joint operations to return refugees”, who have arrived in the English Channel on their ships. precarious.

They accompany them and deliver them to the British forces, who must take them from their territorial waters to the coast, in the name of the law of the sea.

Boris Johnson supports this policy of returning migrants and announced in Parliament that he will do everything possible to put an end to this "vile trade" of human trafficking.

The English Channel seen from Kingsdown.

Photo: Reuters

Patel wants to get a resolution from the British Attorney General, Michael Ellis, to make

his tactics

legal

under domestic and international law.

Experts consider this legal possibility

"very limited".

The Border Force itself has explained to Patel that they could only implement such returns if the migrant boats

are large and solid,

and that only happens in limited circumstances.

Pierre Henri, the French MP for Calais, explained that many migrant smugglers are using

fake boats

to distract French officers patrolling the coast.

When the police are busy with them, the real boats with the migrants are thrown into the sea along the wide French coast.

Priti Patel.

Photo: AFP

Boats carrying at least 65 people are now more common than before.

At least they have a capacity

four times greater

than what they used two years ago.

According to French authorities, they are holding back

57 percent

of migrants who want to reach Britain.

British Minister Patel said she would only hand over the money to France if the interception rate

reached 75 percent

.

He insisted that they must use technology, drones and airplanes, which France cannot use in the name of privacy law.

Afghans in prison hotels

The scandal between France and Britain over migrants broke out when Afghans evacuated to Britain from Afghanistan fleeing the Taliban

found themselves "prisoners" in the hotels

that housed them in the kingdom, after serving quarantine.

Dozens of Afghans who are in a hotel near Heathrow airport

can only leave

for 20 minutes a day to the hotel parking lot, accompanied by a guard, as if they were prisoners.

A former Afghan civil servant is at Heathrow's Renaissance London Hotel, where

his quarantine was completed on September 3

.

But four days later neither he, nor his wife nor their 4 children were allowed to leave, except for a daily walk through the parking lot, accompanied by the guard.

“Our kids are

depressed and frustrated

and we don't know what's going on.

We have nowhere to go and the procedure is not fair.

People who came to the hotel after we were transferred, ”Barham recounted in perfect English.

In a letter the department of health and social development told them that they hope to be able to transfer them to

temporary accommodation

after quarantine and that they can leave if they have other accommodation.

The hotel insists that they are complying with quarantine regulations, although the Afghans have already complied.

But the fear is that they will spend a long time in the hotel because the municipalities have not all responded with the same enthusiasm to give up their social housing to the Afghans, who came to the kingdom because they

had collaborated during the 20 years

of occupation with Great Britain and its armed forces as translators or embassy staff.

Paris, correspondent

ap

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