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6
September 2001
Immigration Groups Condemn Hypocrisy
of French and British Governments over Sangatte
Joint
authors - Professor Elspeth Guild, chair person of the ILPA
European Sub-Committee and a partner at the London law firm
Kingsley Napley and Nathalie Ferré, president of GISTI |
The Immigration
Law Practitioners Association in the UK and the Groupe
d’information et de soutien des travailleurs immigrés in
France today condemned the hypocrisy of the British and French
Governments which is leaving asylum seekers with no protection
and private companies liable for substantial fines if asylum
seekers are found on their carriers crossing the border
between the two countries.
“The announcement of Eurotunnel on 21 August that it was
starting legal actions in France and the UK to try to avoid
fines for persons found clandestinely entering the UK
highlights the problem. The failure to provide protection for
persons in need is the source of the dispute. On the one hand
there are people who are trying to get to the UK to seek
asylum. They cannot get to the UK as they are blocked in
France as no transport company will give them passage because
they intend to seek asylum in the UK. If they manage to stow
away on ferries, lorries or trains, the drivers and companies
are fined in the UK for bringing undocumented persons to the
UK even though these people apply for asylum on arrival. Thus
the UK is placing substantial penalties on private persons and
companies for failing to keep out persons seeking
international protection. Now this system is being extended to
Eurotunnel and quite reasonably it is seeking relief from the
courts. It is not the fault of private companies that people
are persecuted abroad and seek protection here” said Elspeth
Guild, chair person of the ILPA European Sub-Committee and a
partner at the London law firm Kingsley Napley.
“The failure of the French Government to provide any measure
of help to some foreigners resulted in the Red Cross stepping
in and providing shelter and food in the Sangatte camp for
these foreigners apparently trying to get to the UK to seek
protection. This camp is only a few kilometres from the
Eurotunnel and the conditions are very spartan. The people at
the camp are seeking protection from persecution in their
country of origin but the French Government is providing no
assistance to them. There are no French officials at the camp
to assist these persons to apply for asylum in France and to
help with their immediate needs. It is quite apparent that the
French Government would rather these people apply for asylum
in the UK than in France” said Nathalie Ferré, president of
GISTI.
Guild and Ferré agreed: “The situation is unacceptable.
These two Governments, both signatories of the UN Convention
on Refugees, are playing games trying to avoid responsibility
for people in desperate positions who are seeking
international protection. They are using private companies and
humanitarian organisations like the Red Cross as scapegoats
for their own unwillingness to take responsibility for their
international commitments. It is a disgrace that Eurotunnel
has been forced to start these legal actions against both
Governments and that the Red Cross should have to provide
shelter and food to persons in need in France. Both countries
are parties to the Dublin Convention determining the country
responsible for asylum applications in the EU, but instead of
that convention working to provide protection to individuals
it is in effect providing excuses for Government to avoid
their commitments.”
Chair of ILPA, Rick Scannell said "ILPA has long opposed
the use of carrier sanctions as a means of preventing asylum
seekers from travelling to assert their claims. Not only does
the use of sanctions give the carrier the role of immigration
officer, but it ignores the fact that there are no available
means whereby asylum seekers can get pre-clearance to come to
countries such as the UK to assert their claims for asylum in
any event. The consequential 'demonising' of all asylum
seekers trying to get to the UK as 'illegal immigrants', this
despite the fact that the Refugee Convention requires that an
asylum seeker be outside his or her country of feared
persecution in order to make a claim to be a refugee in any
event, is to be deprecated. As the High Court has long
recognised, short of personal invitation by the Home Secretary
to make a claim for asylum, putative refugees have, by reason
of the carrier sanctions regimes in place, no alternative but
to resort to the use of false documents to travel and the
extreme measures sought to be taken to come to make their
claims. "
Note to editors: ILPA is the professional association of
lawyers and advisers in the UK who are engaged in immigration
and asylum matters. It has over 1000 members. GISTI is the
foremost association in France providing legal advice and
information on immigration and asylum law in that country. For
further information contact: Elspeth Guild on (44) 0207 814
1200 or email eguild@kingsleynapley.co.uk Claire Rodier on
(33) 0143 14 84 84 or email claire.rodier@ras.eu.org |
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