A growing number of refugees are arriving by boats on French beaches, increasing the risk of crush and suffocation as a result of the UK’s “stop the boats” policy, The Guardian reports.
A seven-year-old girl is among at least eight people who have died from suffocation in dinghies in the Channel in less than a year.
Last month, seven people died in four incidents in 16 days, the highest number since small boat crossings began, according to non-governmental organisations monitoring the situation.
They said increased patrols on beaches in France to deter smugglers could lead to more deaths unless the UK government introduces a safe boating policy.
The latest death occurred on July 28 when a Syrian woman suffocated to death in a boat. Organisations such as Utopia 56, which helps displaced and homeless people in France, and Alarm Phone, which monitors the English Channel and Mediterranean Sea and transmits distress signals to the coastguard, have blamed the UK’s anti-small boat measures as the cause of the increased fatalities and the appearance of suffocation. An Alarmphone spokesperson said:
“We believe that at least 62 people have died at the UK border since March 2023, when the UK and France signed their latest deal to “stop the boats.” Of those, 39 people died in sea crossing related incidents and eight of those were crushed to death in the dinghy. Are these numbers within the acceptable limits for the UK and French governments?”
Britain is funding more aggressive French police on beaches. In March 2023, £478 million was allocated for 500 extra police officers, a new detention centre and other measures to stop people getting into boats to cross the Channel.
The number of boats available has also fallen after attempts by Britain and other countries to disrupt the supply chain in countries where they are made, such as Germany and Turkey. French police sometimes cut boats with knives, rendering them useless.
This has led to boats setting off in a hurry before they have had time to inflate properly and more people piling into them, increasing the likelihood of them being crushed.
Dangerous policy
In the April 23 incident, five people, including seven-year-old Sara Alhashimi from Iraq, were crushed to death. There were reportedly 112 people on the vessel.
In the incident on September 26 last year, a boat set off from Sangatte beach near Calais and a 24-year-old Eritrean woman on board was crushed and suffocated.
There may be other cases that have gone unreported due to the chaotic and crowded conditions on the dinghies, where many of those on board do not know each other and speak different languages.
A Home Office spokesman said:
“We all want to see an end to dangerous small boat crossings, which are undermining border security and putting lives at risk. The new government is taking steps to boost our border security, setting up a new border security command which will bring together our intelligence and enforcement agencies, equipped with new counter-terror-style powers and hundreds of personnel stationed in the UK and overseas, to smash the criminal smuggling gangs making millions in profit.”
