'Deadly Crossings and the Militarisation of Britain’s Borders' is first English-language analysis of Channel-related deaths
The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) on Wednesday published a new report chronicling the nearly 300 border-related deaths of asylum seekers, migrants and refugees that have occurred in and around the English Channel since 1999.
The 42-page report, Deadly Crossings and the Militarisation of Britain's Borders, can be downloaded here.
The report is the result of a collaboration between the IRR, the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal (PPT) and Gisti, a French legal service for asylum seekers. It was written by Maël Galisson of Gisti and was originally published in French.
The report features a timeline which shows the deaths chronologically, from the death of an Iraqi man under a lorry in Dover on 11 January 1999 to the seven deaths that occurred in the Channel on 27 October this year when a small boat capsized off the French coast. An accompanying interactive map showing the deaths geographically is available here.
Maël Galisson states in the report: "This investigative work aims to go beyond merely accounting or providing reports of these deaths. It seeks, when possible, to give an identity and a history to these 'nameless bodies' and 'names without history'. Trying to reconstruct life stories and to render the personal dimension of each death is a way to avoid their dilution in what is commonly called, in a generic fashion, the 'tragedies of migration'. It is also about challenging the idea that this massacre is the result of misfortune. Reducing these tragedies to accidents (road accidents, drowning, etc) or framing them in terms of violence occurring between migrants, as is often done in the media, is a way of concealing the responsibility of public authorities for a situation that has lasted for more than twenty years in the north of France."
Frances Webber, Vice-Chair of the IRR and former Garden Court barrister, writes in the report's introduction: "Just reading the entries is heartbreaking … Each of these deaths is its own tragedy, and devastating to the person's loved ones. But together, they stand as an indictment of the deadly policies devised to 'protect' the UK from migrants and refugees, from denial of visas and carrier sanctions, barring access to travel facilities, to physical fortifications, the focus of this report."
Webber added: "These deaths are not 'natural' nor 'tragic accidents' but man-made, created by policies which do not merely close borders but also erect ever more obstacles to safe travel for the most vulnerable. Military-style solutions don't solve humanitarian problems. They simply create more profit for the smugglers, and more suffering for the migrants. The history of the securitisation of the English Channel is a history of death. So why do we allow the government to keep on along the same path?"
Webber warns in the report that the Home Office's increasingly draconian response to Channel crossings will not stop people trying to reach Britain, but will instead force them to try even more dangerous methods, such as crossing at night or using longer, less-travelled routes.
Don Flynn, member of PPT and former director of Migrants' Rights Network, said: "The UK government tries to present migrant Channel crossings as a failing on the French side. But much of the hardship in the Calais region stems from the refusal of the British government to provide a safe passage for people with a legitimate claim to asylum in this country. This report is a tool for people who believe that the UK's border policies need to be changed. What exists at the moment is nothing more than the extension of the brutality of the hostile environment to refugees."
Meanwhile, the Home Office reported on Saturday that the UK and France had signed a new agreement to tackle migrant activity in the Channel.
Home Secretary Priti Patel and French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin signed the agreement, which will see a doubling of the number of French police patrolling beaches and an increase in the use of surveillance technology, including drones, radar equipment, optronic binoculars and fixed cameras. In addition, the agreement will include steps to support migrants into appropriate accommodation in France.
Priti Patel explained:
"Today's agreement is a significant moment for our 2 countries, stepping up our joint action to tackle illegal migration. Thanks to more police patrols on French beaches and enhanced intelligence sharing between our security and law enforcement agencies, we are already seeing fewer migrants leaving French beaches.
"The actions we have agreed jointly today go further, doubling the number of police officers on the ground in France, increasing surveillance and introducing new cutting edge technology, representing a further step forward in our shared mission to make channel crossings completely unviable."
"On top of these new operational plans, we will introduce a new asylum system that is firm and fair, and I will bring forward new legislation next year to deliver on that commitment."
According to the Home Office, the UK and France also agreed continued close dialogue to reduce migratory pressures at the shared border both today and next year.