The lead bishop for Asylum and Migration in England and Wales, along with the President of Justice and Peace in Scotland, have welcomed the Sandhurst Treaty.
The treaty, signed last Thursday by Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron, will speed up the processing of migrants in Calais seeking to live in the UK.
According to the BBC, Mr Macron said the Sandhurst Treaty – the first joint treaty on the Calais border in 15 years – would “enable us to improve the relationship and the management of the joint border” and “enable us both to have a more humane approach to these people and to be more efficient”.
The new agreement would see the processing time for adult migrants reduced from six months to one and to 25 days for children.
Bishop Paul McAleenan and Bishop William Nolan said in a joint statement that they welcomed the “positive aspects” of the Treaty, which comes into force on 1 February. But, they said: “The Government and the Civil Service must be held to account in implementing this decision, especially in applying the Dublin III Regulations which will allow children to be reunited with their families in the UK. This opportunity to bring greater humanity and compassion to the migration system must be grasped by the Government.”
“We also welcome the UK’s commitment to support France in its provision of accommodation to those previously in the Dunkirk and Calais areas and to greater co-operation in the fight against organised crime, including those responsible for human trafficking. Improving the legal means by which migrants can access the UK will in itself reduce the amount of criminal activity,” they added.
The bishops, who visited Calais in November and wrote about their experiences in respective blogs for The Tablet, warned that the additional £44.5m of funding promised by the UK Government for tightening Channel border security “must not result in further violence and brutality against young migrants whose lives are already marked by destitution and suffering”. They also urged the Government to reconsider its position on unaccompanied minors.
So far the UK has enabled 200 unaccompanied children to come to Britain under the ‘Dubs Amendment scheme’, but many have called for this number to be increased to 3,000.
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