For years, human rights campaigners have been calling for safe routes to the UK for asylum seekers to prevent them from taking dangerous journeys across the Channel in overloaded dinghies, lining the pockets of ruthless people smugglers in the process. So, is Thursday’s announcement of the “one in one out” deal by the UK prime minister and the French president, where one asylum seeker who arrives on a small boat will be sent back to France in exchange for bringing another one to the UK legally, the answer to their prayers?
The UNHCR and the Refugee Council have cautiously welcomed the announcement, while acknowledging that full details of how the scheme will work in practice are key and not yet available. Others have been less enthusiastic, with the charity Refugee Action condemning the plan for people in life-or-death situations as similar to a nightclub door policy, while Asylum Matters has called it a “Rwanda-style gimmick”.
