By Layli Foroudi
PARIS, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Migrants deported from Britain to France under the new “one-in one-out” scheme did not have enough access to translators, legal advice or information about what would happen to them next, inspectors said in a report published on Monday.
Twenty people removed on a flight in November were offered a translator who spoke Arabic and French, but hardly any of them knew those languages, the UK prison inspectorate said in its first report on the scheme that was launched in July.
They knew they were being deported to France but did not know what would happen to them there, “which increased anxiety for some,” it said.
They were given law firms’ phone numbers, but many said the solicitors did not want to take their cases, it added.
Under the agreement, a person who comes to Britain on a small boat can be detained and returned to France, and an equal number of migrants are then authorised to travel from France to Britain via a new legal route.
The stated aim is to persuade migrants not to risk the dangerous and illegal crossing from France and to break up people-smuggling gangs.
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said last week that 305 people have been removed from the UK and 367 brought in as part of the scheme.
Rights groups have said the scheme is arbitrary, lacks due process and disregards migrants’ wellbeing.
A group of experts, including seven UN Special Rapporteurs, called for the end of the programme last year in a letter to the governments of the UK and France, saying it “may result in serious violations of international human rights law” and that they had concerns that trafficking indicators were not being picked up on.
The UK Home Office and the French Ministry of the Interior did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Layli Foroudi; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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