The UK and France have further deepened their small boats cooperation with the signing of the Upstream Working Group Roadmap yesterday (6 March) at the Ministry of Interior.
The UK’s Border Security Commander, Martin Hewitt, and France’s Special Representative on Immigration for the Minister of State, Patrick Stefanini, met in Paris to agree stronger measures, focussing on stemming irregular migration flows into both France and the UK.
The signing follows the Home Secretary’s visit to the Northern French coast last week where she met with French Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, to agree a series of new, stronger enforcement measures.
The Franco-British Upstream Working Group marks a significant step in ongoing efforts to combat organised immigration crime. The roadmap has 4 priority issues:
- disrupting the criminal gangs at the heart of organised immigration crime
- deterring illegal migrants from taking the dangerous journey to France and the UK
- ensuring the effective and prompt return of irregular migrants to source and transit countries
- tackling the root causes of irregular migration
The 2 co-chairs welcomed British and French joint efforts and set a date for the next Upstream Working Group plenary meeting, due to take place in May 2025.
Border Security Commander, Martin Hewitt, said:
When I first took on my role as Border Security Commander, one of my key priorities was to strengthen our work with partners across the world to tackle the criminal networks facilitating illegal migration to the UK.
In just a few short months, we have fundamentally enhanced our international cooperation, but it is our close cooperation with French partners that remains, as ever, the cornerstone to stopping the gangs and preventing loss of life.
Beyond France, the Border Security Command has deepened coordination with law enforcement to smash the criminal people smuggling gangs, securing vital agreements with other international partners including Germany, Western Balkan nations and Iraq.