Sign the pledge: Stop Air France deportations  

JCWI has teamed up with Action Against Detention and Deportations (AADD) to put pressure on Air France, one of the airlines complicit in the cruel deportation of people seeking asylum on board their commercial flights, as part of the new ‘one in, one out’ scheme between the UK and France. 

The campaign developed by JCWI & AADD calls on people boycott Air France, until the airline publicly commits to no longer facilitating any deportations.  

You can add your name to the boycott here  and share within your networks, including sharing our Instagram post.  

Since the UK and France began implementing the scheme this summer, the human consequences have become painfully clear.  

The first people were detained in August, and deportations to France began in September. Partner organisations supporting people in detention warned that  a number of children subject to deportation had incorrectly been labelled adults and detained as such. People who have experienced trafficking, torture, or modern slavery have also been detained under this scheme, and in certain cases deported already.
 

Earlier this month, the Crossborder Forum manager travelled to Paris with colleagues from Humans for Rights Network to meet with people who had been deported under the scheme. They found bleak conditions and deep fear among those returned. Many spoke of violence, destitution and poor reception conditions in France. A report from Humans for Rights Network is available on their website. 

To date, 75 people have been deported to France, and 51 people have been allowed to enter the UK.

In general, people have been detained very quickly upon arrival in the UK, once their asylum claims have been considered inadmissible.   

Access to legal advice from within detention has been consistently poor, and the experiences of those detained under this specific scheme reflects that worrying trend. Research from organisations such as Jesuit Refugee Service ( JRS)demonstrates that for many people, it’s become extremely difficult for anyone held in detention to access any form of legal support. 

A number of French organisations also submitted a strategic legal action in October.

We will continue to work alongside partners in the UK and across Europe to challenge this policy, expose its harms, and fight for freedom of movement.