Hope for a few, harm for many
Women for Refugee Women (WRW) welcomes efforts by the Government to create safe routes for people seeking sanctuary. The introduction of a pathway between the UK and France represents a commitment, albeit limited, to a safe route that could offer hope and safe passage to a small number of individuals. However, we remain deeply concerned about the broader implications of the UK-France ‘one-in, out-out’ agreement and the direction it signals for refugee protection in the UK.
The deal, implemented from August 2025, allows the UK to forcibly remove individuals arriving via small boats to France, in exchange for admitting others under strict and narrow eligibility criteria. While framed as a humanitarian solution, this arrangement cannot be described as a safe route if it depends on one person risking, and potentially losing, their life at sea to secure the safety of another. It represents a troubling trade-off in human lives, raising serious questions about fairness, legality, and the UK’s commitment to upholding the right to seek asylum.
Undermining the right to seek asylum
All those who have to flee their homes to save their lives must be able to apply for asylum in any country of their choosing and should not be penalised for the method of travel they are forced to take to reach safety. This deal undermines this very right. It risks creating a two-tier system where only a select few are eligible for protection, while others are criminalised and excluded.
Rather than doubling down on hostile narratives and harsh deterrence measures, the Government must instead look at the root causes of why people cross borders to seek safety in the first place – to escape war, persecution, torture and violence. As a founding signatory of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, the UK must continue to uphold its proud history of offering sanctuary to those in need and uphold and respect international human rights laws.
Reliance on harmful detention and deportation practices
Any deal that relies so heavily on the harmful practice of immigration detention cannot be considered humane. Our decade of work and research with women who have been detained shows how damaging, harmful and retraumatising this practice is to an individual’s physical and mental health and wellbeing.
From our experience supporting women detained under this scheme, we are extremely concerned about difficulties many are experiencing in accessing justice and legal advice. Many systemic failures – including legal aid access, procedural fairness, and safeguarding – risk breaching domestic and international legal obligations. Already, there are concerns that individuals who have been forcibly deported to France are potential survivors of modern slavery and trafficking. The rushed and convoluted nature of this deal risks deporting more survivors with no due process, placing them at further risk of harm, exploitation or abuse.
We urgently call on the Government to ensure access to legal advice and justice for all those claiming asylum – regardless of how they arrived to the UK.
This is not a meaningful alternative
We know – from working with women who have to flee their homes to save their lives – that when the Government responds with harsh securitised measures, it only makes people’s journeys more dangerous.
This deal won’t stop dangerous small-boat crossings. It won’t protect the majority of people seeking safety. Instead, it risks pushing vulnerable individuals further into danger and exploitation. One person’s safety should never depend on another’s dangerous journey and deportation. Any cross-border agreements should prioritise humanity, dignity and the right to seek asylum.
Our calls to action
Women for Refugee Women urges the UK Government to:
Expand safe routes for all people seeking asylum, not just a narrow few.
End the use of immigration detention.
Ensure access to legal advice and fair asylum procedures for all individuals, regardless of how they arrive to the UK to claim asylum.
Uphold the right to seek asylum and the principles of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.
Engage meaningfully with civil society, people with lived experience of the asylum and immigration system, and organisations supporting refugee and asylum-seeking individuals to develop humane and effective asylum policies.
We will continue to support women who are directly affected by this deal, including through pastoral, wellbeing and hardship support. As ever, we stand in solidarity with refugee and asylum-seeking women who continue to show courage and resilience in the face of such hostile policies. Their voices and experiences must be at the heart of vital reform to the asylum system.
Andrea Vukovic, Co-Director at Women for Refugee Women, says:
“One person’s safety should never depend on another’s dangerous journey. The UK–France deal risks trading off human lives against each other, rather than offering genuine protection to those who need it. Safe routes should exist to ensure that those fleeing war, persecution or violence have the chance to seek safety, regardless of how they travel. The UK must now choose humanity over hostility and uphold the right to seek asylum for all who need it.”