CAMPAIGNERS have urged the government to save lives by dismantling Britain’s militarised borders and creating safe routes for all.
At least four people died in the English Channel this morning after their boat capsized off the northern French coast.
The French coast guard picked up 63 people near Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Three others were found unconscious in the water, and a fourth person clinging to the wreckage of the dinghy could not be resuscitated.
Refugee Council CEO Enver Solomon said the tragedy “highlights the scale of the challenge facing the new government,” and called for safe routes to stop people from taking “deadly risks.”
He suggested that co-operation agreements be put in place to provide safe passage from France, and the piloting of refugee visas, which would allow people to travel to Britain to apply for asylum.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the deaths this morning were “truly awful,” yet remains determined to roll out a new scheme that ramps up border security and targets those seeking safety.
Tens of millions of pounds are being diverted from the Tories’ failed Rwanda scheme to set up a “Border Security Command,” which will pull together the Border Force, National Crime Agency, and MI5, with police forces across Europe.
Labour says the new body is designed to “smash” people-smuggling gangs, and make Britain’s shores “hostile territory.”
Migrants’ Rights Network CEO Fizza Qureshi said the government seems content to follow the example of the previous regime by fixating on deterrence, rather than focusing on why people have to turn to using unsafe routes in the first place.
“We must start asking why it has become so normalised for black and brown people to perish making this dangerous crossing,” she said.
“We renew our call to the government to save lives by dismantling the UK’s racist and militarised borders, and create safe routes for all nationalities.”
Care4Calais CEO Steve Smith said that every life lost in the Channel is avoidable and that politicians “have the power to end these tragedies.”
“Channel crossings are fuelled by a lack of safe routes to claim asylum in the UK, and as a refugee charity that operates in both northern France and the UK we know the only way to stop crossings and save lives is to open safe routes.”
Some 14,058 have been forced to make the perilous journey across the Channel so far this year.
Data from the UN agency the International Organisation for Migration suggests at least 250 people have died crossing the English Channel over the past decade, although with it relying only on official and media reports, the number is thought to be higher.
Horrifying figures recorded by the agency show that at least 8,565 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2023, making it the deadliest year on record.
