This month, we expect the UK government to announce the renewal of funding to France as part of a bilateral agreement on ‘border security’. Refugee support organisations raise concerns about how the funding would be used, citing research which shows UK funding for border security has led to violence, injury and death at the border.[1]

 

Humans for Rights Network and Project Play, two organisations working at the UK-France border, have both published research demonstrating the link between UK funding and violence at the border. The systematic use of tear gas against groups including young children and babies, the frequent use of rubber bullets during police operations, and evictions confiscating people’s tents are just some examples of the violent policies people at the UK-France border are subjected to.

 

“[The police] bring out the knives and pepper spray then guns. I was like... I’m only a child. Why are you doing this?... we want to be safe and that’s it.”

- Miel*, 15, and Y*, 13, from Iraqi Kurdistan, who attended Project Play sessions in 2024 and 2025

 

It was previously reported that the UK gave at least £468 million to the French government between 2023 and 2026. During recent inquiry hearing Laurent Touvet, Direction générale des étrangers en France (DGEF) stated that this figure could in fact be as high as £818.6 million, raising additional concerns regarding transparency and how tax payers money contributes to human rights abuses at the border. He also stated that 62% of the funding for operations at the border comes from the UK, with France funding the remaining 38%. This means any violent action is more likely than not to be funded by the UK. 

 

“We were surprised by the police, and they started throwing tear gas at us. They took the boat and hit it with a knife, and he started firing gas at us, and we started running, and we were in fear.” 

- I*, a woman who stayed in a safehouse in Calais after experiencing police violence.

 

However, the UK government has repeatedly failed to provide any transparency around how UK funding under bilateral agreements for ‘border security’ is spent. NGOs are concerned by the evasive responses provided by the Government to multiple Freedom of Information requests and to questions raised by MPs. 

 

“It is deeply concerning that taxpayers, NGOs and MPs are unable to find out how UK money is being spent at the border. It is clear that human rights abuses are perpetrated as a direct result of UK government funding, but by refusing to clarify how this money is spent, the government is attempting to avoid any accountability.”

- Lily MacTaggart, Humans for Rights Network

 

Humans for Rights Network and Project Play are calling for a full public statutory inquiry into the role of UK funding and policy in border violence and human rights violations at its border. They urge a suspension of all UK funding for the border until such an inquiry has been carried out. Funding should be redistributed for humanitarian purposes and any continued spending on the securitisation of the border must be subject to rigorous human rights monitoring frameworks, the organisations say. 

 

Maddie Harris, director of Humans for Rights Network, said: “It is deeply disturbing that the UK government intends to commit more funding to ‘secure’ its border, in light of such clear evidence that this funding directly contributes to violence and death. An urgent statutory public inquiry is needed, to ensure accountability and stop anyone else being subjected to violent policies that cause trauma, injury and death. Funding must be  re-allocated to tackle the horrific humanitarian situation facing people stuck at our border.”

 

Katie Hall, advocacy lead at Project Play, said: “Children and their families face violence day in, day out at the UK-France border. Instead of continuing to fund hostile policies, the UK government should divert its funding to ensuring a dignified welcome for people in France, and creating safe and accessible routes to seek asylum in the UK.”

 

** ENDS **

 

[1] See  We Want to be Safe, Project Play, June 2025; You Can’t Stay, but You Can’t Go, Humans for Rights Network, December 2025; Nowhere Safe, Project Play, February 2026; How ‘stopping the boats’ kills, Border Forensics and University of Bristol, March 2026

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CONTACT

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Maddie Harris, Director, Humans for Rights Network

Lily MacTaggart, Border Violence Lead, Humans for Rights Network

Katie Hall, Advocacy Lead, Project Play

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>> All can be reached via info@project-play.org

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

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• Project Play provides play services, parental support and safeguarding casework to children aged 0–18 living in informal sites around Calais and Dunkirk, France. https://www.project-play.org/ 

• Humans for Rights Network offers casework and carries out strategic litigation to support people in the UK asylum system. https://www.humansforrights.org/ 

• The Stop Border Violence campaign, as well as all the research by Project Play and Humans for Rights Network, is available at http://project-play.org/stop-border-violence.

• A French parliamentary inquiry is currently investigating the impacts of bilateral UK-France border agreements. See https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/69825/immigration--les-accords-du-touquet-evalues-par-une-commission-denquete-parlementaire-francaise 

• An explanation of bilateral UK-France policy and funding of the border since 2014 can be found at https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9681/ 

 

*Names were changed to protect the identities of individuals