To mark 20 years since the Touquet Agreements between the UK and France, the Crossborder Forum has launched the English translations of two key reports by Pierre Bonnevalle and Marta Lotto

February 2023 marks 20 years since the French and British governments set in stone the externalisation of British border controls into the north of France, through the Touquet Treaty. 20 years later, the Touquet agreements remain a founding act of the hostile immigration policy implemented on the Channel and North Sea coast. Since the signing of the treaty, over 300 people have died at the border. Many others have disappeared, and thousands have been harassed and injured.  

Two in-depth reports documenting the crisis at the border caused by successive bilateral agreements have been newly translated into English from their original French. The reports illuminate the connections between hostile immigration policies on both sides of the Channel. Since 1998, 1.28 billion euros have been spent on enforcing the UK-France border and the situation for exiled people has only worsened. These reports investigate and expose the harassment, surveillance, and violence carried out against people on the move at this border, financed by the UK Government through these bilateral agreements, in the name of preventing people from reaching the UK.   

Originally published by the Plateforme des Soutiens aux Migrant.e.s in 2022, the first report, "Investigating 30 Years of the Political Factory of Deterrence”, was written by political scientist Pierre Bonnevalle. It analyses 30 years of a costly and ineffective policy at the UK-France border, built through a series of bilateral agreements between the two countries, domestic migration policies, and increased militarisation and surveillance. The second report, "ON THE BORDER, Life in transit at the French-British border”, was written by the anthropologist Marta Lotto and focuses on the experiences of people on the move who end up blocked at the border, trying to reach the UK. She reports on the reflections, analyses, and perceptions of the people she interviewed from March to August 2021 in from Caen to Grande-Synthe, by way of Calais, Ouistreham, Cherbourg, St. Hilaire Cottes, Ranville et Herzeele. 

Download "30 Years" report

Download "On The Border" report

With a foreword from Watch The Channel

There is a lack of awareness among the British public about what's happening on the UK’s border with France. Harmful bilateral agreements, state mandated destitution and systemic police violence have dehumanised and marginalised migrant communities in Northern France for the past 30 years. While camp locations shift and communities move between them, there is little about the overall situation that changes.  

"30 Years of the Political Factory of Deterrence" deepens our understanding of the Franco-British border: contemporary events are placed within a decades long trajectory of ever increasing enforced precarity for exiled peoples and connections are made between dispersed locations across the border -- Calais, Grand-Synthe, Norrents-Font, Ouistreham, Sangatte. It traces successive agreements between French and British governments that built the current system of 'deterrence' and recounts in detail the impacts they have had for the conditions facing those on the move.  

This work allows us, activists and organisers, understand the complexities of the juxtaposed border, whilst also being a call to action for us to change it. The "30 Years" report excavates the past to help us anticipate the future of the Franco-British border, helping us see what must be done to abolish it.

The translation of these reports is an initiative of the Crossborder Forum, through the support of the Rosa Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels Office with funds of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

About the Crossborder Forum

The Crossborder Forum is a space for civil society organisations interested in the UK-France-Belgium border to exchange information and expertise and work collaboratively towards shared advocacy and action on ongoing cross-border migration and asylum issues. We have over 40 members, ranging from direct support organisations for people on the move in northern France to national migrants’ rights organisations in the UK, France, and Belgium. 

For enquiries and further information, please contact: 

Francesca Humi, coordinator, Crossborder Forum: [email protected] 
Clara Houin, coordinator, Plateforme des Soutiens aux Migrant.e.s : [email protected]