Latest news with #Channelcrossing
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Migrant policies ‘creating more barriers to child safety', says charity
Conditions at the UK-France border are becoming 'more dangerous' for young people, a charity has warned, after it was revealed that at least 15 children died trying to cross the Channel last year. Young children hide under tables when they think they hear the sound of sirens because they are commonly scared of the police, according to organisation Project Play, who raised concerns of teargas and evictions. Advocacy coordinator Kate O'Neill, based in northern France, told the PA news agency there has been a rise in police violence which is disproportionately harming children. She said: 'Ultimately the children we're meeting every day are not safe. 'They're exposed to a level of violence, whether it's they are directly victims of it or the witness. 'We're ultimately at all times putting out fires… the underlying issue is these policies of border securitisation… that are creating more and more barriers to child safety and child protection.' She said there was hope when the Labour Government took office a year ago that there would be some improvement, adding: 'This is not at all what we've seen. 'They continued to make conditions more difficult and more dangerous.' She said: 'The smash-the-gangs narrative is not effective and it's harmful because ultimately the only way to put the gangs out of business is to cut the need for them.' It comes as the grassroots organisation published a report that said at least 15 children died trying to cross the English Channel last year, more than the total of the past four years combined. The charity that offers play services, parental support and safeguarding casework to children aged 0-18 living in sites around Calais and Dunkirk, documented rising violence, trauma and child deaths linked with UK border policies and funding to the French to ramp up enforcement in 2024. In February this year, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper agreed to re-purpose £7 million of cash to French counterparts to bolster enforcement action on the nation's coastline to tackle Channel crossings. 'What we really need to see is some cross-border accountability for the incidents and the fatalities in the Channel,' Ms O'Neill said. The campaigner said one of the main calls as a result of the group's research is for an official source of the number of deaths and information on these deaths to be recorded. Figures for the report came from International Organisation for Migration, Calais Migrant Solidarity and other networks in northern France. 'We don't have the identities of all of them. 'In fact, these deaths are going unrecorded and unreported,' she said. One in five crossing the English Channel between 2018 and 2024 were children, according to Project Play. Meanwhile, Ms O'Neill said tactics for French police to intervene in crossing attempts in shallow waters is already happening despite the changes needed to the rules to allow this having not yet come into force. She said: 'This is not a new tactic… it's something that has been happening for a long time in Calais and surrounding areas. 'My feeling is that this is increasing based on the number of testimonies we're receiving from children and their families recently.' 'It's really dangerous because the children often are in the middle of the boats.' But on Friday, Ms Cooper said intervention in French waters was 'critical'. 'That's one of the big things that has changed, the way in which the boats operate in shallow waters,' she said. 'We have to have the action on those because that's that is where the prevention needs to take place.' Ms Cooper also pressed the case for introducing the new criminal offence of endangering life at sea under the Government's Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, after seeing 'awful cases' of children being crushed to death in the middle of overcrowded boats. Project Play worked with more than 1,000 children in 2024, and believes in the last few weeks there have been a 'very large amount' of children they worked with who were born and went to school in a European country, such as Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Ms O'Neill said families' visas granted five or 10 years ago in other European countries for refuge have since expired and they have not been allowed to stay, which she said is behind the increase in crossings to the UK. She said since Brexit meant the UK left the Dublin regulation, the country is a 'viable option'. The European Union law set out that the first EU country an asylum seeker entered was responsible for processing their claim, and the UK can no longer send asylum seekers back to other member states since leaving the bloc. Ms O'Neill said: 'Most people we're speaking to, that is why they're going. 'They're not going to claim benefits from the UK or to do anything for free, but it's the next nearest safe place they can be. 'This needs to be addressed… as a European-wide issue instead of just a UK-France thing.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. 'Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in Northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs.'
Telegraph
19-06-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Migrant and his dog rescued from adrift Channel dinghy
A migrant and his small dog adrift in a rubber dinghy in the English Channel have been rescued by the Coastguard. The man, who gave his name as Barry and is thought to be an Afghan, was rescued off the East Sussex coast on Wednesday night after a red flare was spotted at 6.30pm. Emergency services launched a large-scale operation and brought him and his dog ashore at 7.30pm. The man was heard telling rescuers he found the dog, which he called Bella, apparently a Lancashire Heeler, in a migrant camp in France. It is believed they had been drifting for three days in the tiny dinghy after the engine failed. A spokesman for the Coastguard said: 'HM Coastguard has responded to reports of a person in the water in waters between Brighton Marina and Pier. 'A rescue helicopter was sent, alongside lifeboats from Shoreham and Brighton, and Coastguard rescue teams from Shoreham and Newhaven. 'A man was located safe and well in a vessel that had reportedly experienced engine issues.' A spokesman for Sussex Police said: 'Police assisted HM Coastguard following a report of a man in a boat off the coast of Brighton on Wednesday. 'The man and a dog were safely brought to shore and passed to Border Force officials.' The latest Channel crossing incident comes after Sir Keir Starmer admitted that the small-boats crisis was getting worse, and ahead of an expected surge in crossings due to warmer weather. The number of people arriving on small boats after crossing the Channel is more than 22 per cent higher so far this year than it was by this time in 2024. From the beginning of January until June 14, 16,317 migrants crossed to the UK. Last year, 13,489 had made the journey by the end of June. On Monday, another 228 people crossed in four boats, according to the latest Home Office figures. A further 134 people had managed to reach the UK on Saturday, in two small boats. On Friday, more than 900 migrants crossed in 14 boats – the single largest number for several weeks. Last Thursday, 52 reached the UK coast in one boat, and the day before 400 had made it across in six small boats.
The Independent
03-06-2025
- General
- The Independent
Number of overcrowded small boats carrying more than 80 migrants across Channel quadruples
The number of overcrowded small boats arriving in the UK carrying more than 80 people has quadrupled in three years, casting doubt over Labour's pledge to stop people from making the dangerous journey. Fresh analysis from the Home Office showed that 33 boats made the perilous journey while carrying more than 80 people in the year to April 2025 - up from eight in the year to April 2022. While the overall number of dinghies - typically made to carry up to 20 people safety - arriving declined from 1,116 in 2022 to 738 in 2025, more people have been crammed onto each vessel for the crossing. The Home Office data showed that the number of days with good weather conditions for migrants to cross the English Channel this year has more than doubled compared to previous years. The government published the statistics just days after a record number of daily arrivals for this year when 1,195 migrants made the journey to the UK in 19 boats on Saturday. It comes despite Labour in December claiming that the government had broken the link between favourable weather conditions and an influx of migrant crossings. There were 60 so-called 'red' days between January 1 and April 30 this year, when factors such as wind speed, wave height and the likelihood of rain meant crossings were classed by officials as 'likely' or 'highly likely'. Some 11,074 migrants arrived in the UK during these four months after crossing the Channel. By contrast, there were 27 red days in the same period last year, less than half the number in 2025, with 7,567 arrivals recorded – nearly a third lower than the total for this year. There were also 27 red days in the first four months of 2022, with 23 red days in 2023, with 6,691 and 5,946 arrivals in these periods, respectively. Reacting to the figures, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: 'Labour seems to think praying for bad weather is a good border security strategy. 'This is a weak government, with no plan to end illegal immigrants crossing the Channel. 'Blaming the weather for the highest ever crossing numbers so far this year is the border security equivalent of a lazy student claiming 'the dog ate my homework'.' Assessments of the likelihood of migrant crossings are prepared for the Home Office by the Met Office. Red days mean the probability of migrant activity in the Channel is greater than 55 per cent, with crossings classed as 'likely' or 'highly likely'. The analysis is based on data recorded in the Dover Strait and does not consider wider factors such as the availability of dinghies. The cumulative total arrivals for the year is 14,812 - the highest for the first five months of a year since data collection began in 2018. Gunes Kalkan, of Safe Passage International, said the rise only increases the risk to people's lives. 'This indicates the government's approach isn't working, as the smugglers continue to exploit the lack of safe routes for refugees, cramming more and more people dangerously on each boat,' he said. 'If this government is serious about saving lives and stopping the smugglers, it must open safe routes and expand refugee family reunion.' Downing Street said the government wanted to break the link between favourable weather conditions and the number of English Channel crossings by small boats but acknowledged there were 'no quick fixes'. Meanwhile, officials are understood to be pessimistic about the prospect of bringing numbers down this year, with measures not expected to start paying off until 2026. The government has vowed to crack down on people smuggling gangs, including by handing counter-terror-style powers to law enforcement agencies under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, currently going through Parliament. However, they have faced accusations of mimicking Reform UK, after they began publishing videos of early morning raids and Sir Keir Starmer echoed the language of Enoch Powell in a major speech earlier this year. A Home Office spokesman said: 'This government is restoring grip to the broken asylum system it inherited, that saw a whole criminal smuggling enterprise allowed to develop, where gangs have been able to exploit periods of good weather to increase the rate of crossings for too long.' The spokesman added that 9,000 crossings have been prevented from the French coastline this year.
