Straw tells French: Keep Kurdish migrants

Road to freedom? A Kurdish refugee in southern France

Home Secretary Jack Straw has intervened to ensure none of the 900 Kurdish asylum seekers shipwrecked in France tries to enter Britain.

He rang his French counterpart to tell him that France had a duty under international treaty to deal with the asylum claims.

Any other EU country which they entered would have the right to return the applicants to France

Home Secretary Jack Straw

It came after reports that many of the Iraqi Kurds washed ashore on the Cote d'Azur at the weekend may want to come to Britain.

During the "lengthy" conversation, Mr Straw reminded French interior minister Daniel Vaillant that the UK had powers to send back to France any of the refugees who crossed the Channel.

French obliged

"I put it to him that under the Dublin Convention, as France was the first EU country which these people entered then France had the obligation to deal with any asylum applications."

Iraqi Kurds escape their ship off the French coast

All 908 refugees, whose overcrowded ship was grounded near the town of Frejus, have applied for political asylum.

After being held in a former military base, they have now been given permits to leave.

Mr Vaillant told Mr Straw he understood that most intended to stay in the area where the Red Cross is helping them recover from their ordeal at sea.

Victims of gangs

The group, who include more than 400 children, paid up to $4,200 each to criminal gangs to be taken to Europe.

But their crammed Cambodian-registered ship was deliberately run aground off the Cote d'Azur on Saturday.

Feasibly, they could now try to cross to the UK by ferry or through the Channel Tunnel.

Refugees told French TV they want to travel to UK

One migrant, Funda Kutlay, told French TV: "France is nice but it will be difficult to get permission to stay here. We hear we will be treated much better in Britain."

Others reportedly being told by French authorities that Britain would give them "much better treatment".

Shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe said: "So much for Tony Blair's much-trumpeted alliance with the French government. It is as hollow as the rest of his rhetoric."

Few belongings

The Iraqi Kurd families lined up at phone booths and strolled through the French village of Frejus on Wednesday, clutching their belongings in plastic bags.

We hear we will be treated much better in Britain

Funda Kutlay, asylum seeker

"We are happy, but our path in life is still unclear," a middle-aged man told reporters outside the camp.

John Tincey of the UK's Immigration Service Union said if the asylum seekers did travel to Britain, finding them and sending them back to France would be very difficult.

He said there was anecdotal evidence of refugees being unofficially advised by the French to head to Britain.

"Asylum seekers have told our officers that French policemen have told them on an individual basis that they would be better off in Britain but we have no way of confirming this," he said.

This week Eurotunnel warned it needs government help to stop refugees smuggling themselves into Britain on-board its trains. The company is stopping 100 to 150 migrants a night at its French terminal.

System under strain

Spokesman Kevin Charles said: "It would be of great concern to us if another 900 asylum seekers headed for the Channel ports.

"Our understanding is that the Red Cross centre at Sangatte would be unable to cope with such an influx."

Britain had 76,000 new applications for asylum last year, 5,000 more than 1999, despite measures to reduce the number, including a switch from cash benefits to vouchers.

More than 13,500 people were recognised as refugees and granted asylum last year, including more than 3,000 who won asylum status after appealing an initial rejection.