![Migrants packed tightly onto a small inflatable boat attempt to cross the English Channel near the Dover Strait, the world's busiest shipping lane, on September 07, 2020 off the coast of Dover, England. [Photo by Luke Dray/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1271104891.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
The UK government is being urged to take further action in a bid to prevent more deaths of people crossing the English Channel in small boats. In 2024, at least 69 men, women and children died when crossing the English Channel in an effort to reach the UK, more than the total between 2019 and 2023.
A report by the Refugee Council on Thursday urged the government to expand safe and legal routes to the UK, including increasing resettlement to pre-COVID levels. The charity also recommended expanding eligibility for family reunions to allow child refugees in the UK to bring close family members. Piloting a refugee visa for 10,000 people from specific countries is also being suggested.
“The UK Government must prioritise saving lives as part of the strategy for reducing irregular journeys,” noted the report titled “Deaths in the Channel: What Needs to Change”.
Describing the record number of deaths as alarming, the NGO pointed out that there is no official data tracking these fatalities, leaving a critical gap in evidence that is needed to inform policy.
READ: Number of migrants arriving in UK via English Channel soars by 25% in 2024
“The UK government should publish quarterly data on the number of people who have died trying to cross the Channel in a small boat,” said the council, adding that this should include, where known, information including age, sex and nationality. It suggested that this should be done jointly with the French government.
The Home Office in Whitehall publishes daily updates on the number of people and boats who have crossed, weekly updates on the number of people prevented from crossing, and quarterly detailed datasets that include demographic information about who has crossed.
The Refugee Council study found that enforcement measures, including increased efforts to disrupt smuggling gangs, have made channel crossings “even more dangerous.” It said that while the UK government has acknowledged these dangers, it has not announced any plans to take action to mitigate the impact, such as improving search and rescue efforts.
Despite government policies to prevent small boat crossings, more than 36,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in 2024, up 25 per cent on 2023.
The report cited the US example regarding the impact of the Biden administration’s policies that showed that safe and legal routes and enforcement are “two sides of the same coin.” It noted that the Biden administration implemented a range of safe and legal routes, such as the sponsorship process for Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan nationals to enter the US, alongside restrictions on entry at the Mexican border.
“Taking on the gangs is one of the necessary actions needed to reduce the number of people putting their lives at risk to reach the UK, but the Government seems to have accepted that it is leading to the journey becoming more dangerous,” said the council. “Steps must be taken to improve the search and rescue capacity in the Channel, particularly close to the French coast.”
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