At least 12 migrants died in the English Channel this week when their boat capsized off France’s northern coast.
French authorities said the boat, which was less than seven metres long, was carrying at least 70 people believed to be mainly from Ethiopia.
Emergency crews were able to rescue 51 people, and have recovered the bodies of the dead.
Several survivors are in a critical condition. A search and rescue operation is underway for two missing people.
Migrants crossing the English Channel
The English Channel is a body of water that separates England’s southern coast from France’s northern coast.
While it’s a busy shipping lane, it’s risky for small boats to navigate because of its powerful currents.
As of last week, the International Organisation for Migration estimated 268 asylum seekers have died or gone missing in the Channel over the past 10 years.
In the past week, UK Government data shows 2,109 migrants tried to enter the country in small boats via the Channel.
French Government
France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the victims were “undoubtedly looking for a better life in Great Britain.”
He said authorities had opened an investigation into the incident.
Darmanin said the deaths emphasised the need for France to “re-establish special relations with [its] British friends” to coordinate stronger security in the Channel.
UK Government
The UK Government said it’s in touch with French authorities about the “the horrifying and deeply tragic incident.”
In a statement to social media, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she’ll wait for the findings of the French investigation before taking action.
Cooper said: “The work to dismantle these dangerous and criminal smuggler gangs… is so vital”.
The previous Government proposed a policy to send asylum seekers who arrived in the UK illegally to the central African country of Rwanda.
Four people were sent to Rwanda under the policy, which a Parliamentary committee found was in breach of human rights obligations.
Under international law, it is illegal to send an asylum seeker to an unsafe place.
Cooper says the newly-elected Labour Government will scrap the “Rwanda law”, and introduce new asylum seeker laws that prioritise “fast-track decisions and returns to safe countries”.
Advocates
Humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the incident is the “tragic consequence of inhumane and absurd migration policies.“
MSF French division head Xavier Crombé said France’s and the UK’s “costly and ineffective” security policies “prioritise border control over human lives.”
“The rhetoric of fighting people smugglers cannot be the only response to these tragedies. It is urgent to open safe and legal migration routes… in order to counter human trafficking and allow men, women and children to find refuge”.
