PARIS: Humanitarian and activist groups filed an appeal Tuesday in France to block a British-French migration deal that aims to deter record numbers of immigrants crossing the Channel to the United Kingdom.
The agreement features a “one-in, one-out” exchange, in which Britain can detain and return to France migrants arriving by boat whom they deem ineligible for asylum, in exchange for London accepting an equal number of migrants from France after they have received a visa.
It was signed in July and came into force in August, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government struggling to quell public discontent over immigration levels.
But a group of 17 NGOs appealed against the deal in France’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, arguing it should have been ratified by parliament.
“The implementation decree... is tainted with illegality, as it fails to comply with the procedure prescribed by the constitution,” the groups said in a joint statement.
The groups include Utopia 56, which works with migrants, and medical charity Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World).
According to their lawyer, Lionel Crusoe, the French constitution requires the agreement to have been ratified by parliament before being signed into law.
Crusoe said he expected to hear from the court by the end of the week on whether they would schedule a hearing.
Under the deal, Britain has so far removed 26 people to France and taken in 18 migrants in return, the British government said last week.
British authorities had hoped the deal would curb record levels of irregular Channel crossings, which have fueled the rise of the hard-right Reform UK party.
The organizations argued that “the number of dangerous and illegal crossings of the Channel has not decreased” following the agreement.
More than 8,400 migrants have entered the UK on dinghies since the deal was implemented, according to an AFP count based on official British data.
Nearly 35,500 such migrants have landed on British shores since the beginning of the year.
At least 27 people have died trying to make the perilous Channel crossing by sea during that same period, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
NGOs appeal UK-France migrant exchange deal
https://arab.news/jyjdp
NGOs appeal UK-France migrant exchange deal
- “The implementation decree... is tainted with illegality, as it fails to comply with the procedure prescribed by the constitution,” the groups said
- The groups include Utopia 56, which works with migrants, and medical charity Doctors of the World
India, Arab League target $500bn in trade by 2030
- It was the first such gathering of India–Arab FMs since the forum’s inauguration in 2016
- India and Arab states agree to link their startup ecosystems, cooperate in the space sector
NEW DELHI: India and the Arab League have committed to doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, as their top diplomats met in New Delhi for the India–Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
The foreign ministers’ forum is the highest mechanism guiding India’s partnership with the Arab world. It was established in March 2002, with an agreement to institutionalize dialogue between India and the League of Arab States, a regional bloc of 22 Arab countries from the Middle East and North Africa.
The New Delhi meeting on Saturday was the first gathering in a decade, following the inaugural forum in Bahrain in 2016.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said in his opening remarks that the forum was taking place amid a transformation in the global order.
“Nowhere is this more apparent than in West Asia or the Middle East, where the landscape itself has undergone a dramatic change in the last year,” he said. “This obviously impacts all of us, and India as a proximate region. To a considerable degree, its implications are relevant for India’s relationship with Arab nations as well.”
Jaishankar and his UAE counterpart co-chaired the talks, which aimed at producing a cooperation agenda for 2026-28.
“It currently covers energy, environment, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, culture and education, amongst others,” Jaishankar said.
“India looks forward to more contemporary dimensions of cooperation being included, such as digital, space, start-ups, innovation, etc.”
According to the “executive program” released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the roadmap agreed by India and the League outlined their planned collaboration, which included the target “to double trade between India and LAS to US$500 billion by 2030, from the current trade of US$240 billion.”
Under the roadmap, they also agreed to link their startup ecosystems by facilitating market access, joint projects, and investment opportunities — especially health tech, fintech, agritech, and green technologies — and strengthen cooperation in space with the establishment of an India–Arab Space Cooperation Working Group, of which the first meeting is scheduled for next year.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing momentum in Indo-Arab relations focused on economic, business, trade and investment ties between the regions that have some of the world’s youngest demographics, resulting in a “commonality of circumstances, visions and goals,” according to Muddassir Quamar, associate professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“The focus of the summit meeting was on capitalizing on the economic opportunities … including in the field of energy security, sustainability, renewables, food and water security, environmental security, trade, investments, entrepreneurship, start-ups, technological innovations, educational cooperation, cultural cooperation, youth engagement, etc.,” Quamar told Arab News.
“A number of critical decisions have been taken for furthering future cooperation in this regard. In terms of opportunities, there is immense potential.”
