SCRIPT ENG
__

Um Mohammad
From El Geneina, Darfur, Sudan

We have no other choice but to go by sea to reach the UK.

But when night came, we walked 6 km, then failed to cross, so we went back and slept for two hours.

And again, when we learn there is a window to cross, despite our fatigue and exhaustion,

we do it all over again, hoping to cross, and if we fail, we try again with the same level of hope.

We can't lose hope. Our goal is to cross, because the sea is the only way for us to reach the UK.


On-screen text

July 2025. The United Kingdom and France announce a new migration agreement, commonly known as 'one in, one out': people crossing the English Channel in makeshift boats are arrested, detained and in some cases returned to France.

In return, the UK promises a legal pathway for admission to its territory, but its criteria are so restrictive that it remains inaccessible to most people.

Unaccompanied minors and stateless people are excluded from the agreement.

The 'one in, one out' deal has been condemned by numerous organisations, including Médecins Sans Frontières, who see it as a cynical trade-off with human lives.


Um Mohammad

So tonight, if I want to apply for 'one in, one out'... I would apply with what? I don't have any documents.


ONE IN ON OUT

Um Mohammad

I heard about the new law. One refugee in, one refugee out. I think that this law is illogical. Because we came here from El Fasher [Sudan]. When we left our home in El Geneina, we left with nothing. I only grabbed a bottle of milk for my son. And the clothes I was wearing.

We left all our papers.

Our house was burned. Almost all our papers were burned with the house. When we arrived in Libya, we could not find a way to get new papers. We tried to get papers from the embassy there but we could not.

My son doesn't have a birth certificate. He doesn't have a national ID. He doesn't have a passport. He doesn't have anything. Even my daughter was born in Libya. She has no birth certificate, no national ID, no passport, no documents whatsoever.

Almost all people here have no papers. All the families with me here: half of their children were born on the streets, in Libya. We don't have any documents, anything to apply with.


Maddie Harris
Director & Founder, Humans for Rights Network

The criteria are very restrictive. There's not a lot of information available about who is actually eligible. And we've heard from people of situations, for example, where they've had to attend embassies or have been unable to apply because they don't have identity documents.


Ali Ahmad
From El Obeid, Kordofan, Sudan

No, it's not logical, frankly. This law has been put in place to make your life harder. Most people who came here asking for asylum came illegally; they don't have papers.

Even if they had a passport, it would have been burned in the war. The war burns everything.


Michaël Neuman
Migrations Unit Manager, MSF

The reality for asylum seekers on the coast is that they are trying at all costs to cross, only to find themselves, once in the United Kingdom, detained in extremely difficult conditions and subjected to physical and psychological violence, before some of them are forcibly returned to France under the 'one in, one out' agreement.


Maddie Harris

The conditions in immigration removal centres in the UK are widely documented as being horrific, so what we're hearing from people are that they are being subjected to excessive use of force, very inadequate access to legal advice and people being removed having had no legal advice. They're struggling to access medical care, which is impacting people's mental and physical health; some people are showing signs of PTSD and others are suffering from suicidal ideation.


Michaël Neuman

What we also observe is that a number of these people are attempting to cross the English Channel again, returning to the coast, as they find that France remains a fundamentally unwelcoming place upon their arrival.


discussion between people in the jungle, preparing coffee

The last time I tried to cross the sea was a week ago.

Some people were arrested in the jungle as we were heading toward the sea. I made it to the shore, but the boat was about 15 metres away and the water was rough. I can swim, but I can't stay afloat for long. It was too risky. That was the only attempt I made.


Ali Ahmad

People came here in search of protection, only to be shocked by how bad the conditions are.

Without access to food or water, how can I survive?

Sometimes there are minors here with us. We are all suffering.


Maddie Harris

Humans for Rights has spoken to a number of people who were returned to France, and we're also working with a growing number of age-disputed unaccompanied children who are in detention in the UK.

People are being punished for crossing and selected randomly for this scheme. No consideration is given to anybody's particular vulnerability, whether that be their physical or mental health, whether they're someone who's experienced torture or trafficking or somebody who may be a child.


discussion between people in the jungle, preparing coffee

It's hard to find a place to sleep well. The rain and the weather make it worse.

You could die from the cold if you don't have proper clothes.

Rats are everywhere, and you can get scabies at any moment.

It's a very bad situation. Lack of sleep also makes you exhausted.

What is most troubling here is the issue of housing, having a decent place to live, sleep well and take a shower.

Here, you can't shower whenever you want. Even when the shower trucks arrive, there is a long queue, and you may not get a turn.

Going without a shower for five to seven days makes you feel disgusted with yourself.


Um Mohammad

This situation is psychologically exhausting.

We are currently in temporary accommodation until Friday, after which we do not know where we will go.

Will we have to go back to sleeping in the jungle, or will they find us another place?

Sometimes we try to cross, and it is very cold.

When I see my children feeling cold, I take off my sweater or coat to keep them warm, and I endure the cold myself.

Although the cold is severe and very difficult to endure, we bear it for the sake of our children.


Ali Ahmad

I was arrested by a militia group. In my country, they are called the RSF. They detained me for 10 days and demanded a ransom.

I couldn't pay the ransom. I tried to call all my family members to raise the money, but when I still couldn't get it, they told me I could either work for them or they would bury me alive there.

At first, I protested, but I was beaten for doing so.

I ran away, and after that I felt I was in danger. They could reach my family, so I decided to go to Libya.


Maddie Harris

Some of the adults that we've spoken to also have experienced trafficking and torture. One individual, for example, experienced trafficking in Libya but also very extreme police brutality in Croatia. Upon arrival back to France he was placed into the Dublin procedure and was informed that he was to be removed to Croatia. He is now destitute, living on the streets in France and unable to find anywhere safe to be.


Ali Ahmad

I had heard about life in Libya, but when I arrived, I was really shocked. Is it possible for someone to treat people this way? I was surprised by the level of violence.

When you go to Libya as a refugee, you live without dignity and are constantly humiliated. I thought we were all Muslims. Why do they treat us with such racism, for example, calling me 'slave' at random?


Maddie Harris

The extreme violence that people experience at the border, the lack of safe routes, the support that the UK Government and other European states provide to Libya and the externalisation of Europe's borders are all ultimately designed to disappear people.

'One in, one out' fits squarely into this. When people are returned to France and they perhaps have a Dublin history, or are unable to stay in countries throughout Europe due to decisions made on their asylum claims and threats of removal, these people ultimately have nowhere to be. They have nowhere to settle and essentially are going to be forced to kind of live under the radar in European society, unable to settle, unable to start their lives again and reunite with family where that is something they want.


Michaël Neuman

This 'one in, one out' agreement is not an isolated measure. It is the latest link in a series of agreements concluded between France and the United Kingdom – from the Le Touquet agreements to the Sandhurst agreements – that are based on the UK funding the securitisation of the Franco-British border.

The UK government has subcontracted its border management to the French authorities for decades.

The result of these policies has been a deterioration in the physical and psychological condition of the men, women, and children we support during their time in the Calais and Dunkirk areas.


Um Mohammad

It is a huge risk. Being a woman and facing violence at the same time, traveling from Sudan to Europe through Chad, Libya, Italy and France.

Now, France is a place where we can stop and rest a little before trying to cross again.

This is a risk to our lives. You believe there is a high chance you will make it, but in reality, you may not.

If there were safer routes instead of this 'one in, one out' method, it would help provide women and mothers with a better option. The journey from Africa, or from Sudan, to Europe, is very difficult, almost impossible. But we will continue the journey until we arrive, insha Allah.


On-screen text

For more than twenty years, the United Kingdom has paid hundreds of millions of pounds to France to prevent people seeking asylum from crossing the English Channel, using increasingly violent methods. Yet crossing attempts have never stopped.

Médecins Sans Frontières calls on the British and French governments to urgently establish safe and accessible pathways for people seeking refuge.