UK government urged to issue refugee visa to prevent further deaths in English Channel

The British government has faced a wide-range of calls to take action in a bid to prevent further death from people crossing the Channel in small boats as the 2024 marked the record number of toll.

In 2024, at least 69 men, women and children died crossing the English Channel in a small boat, trying to reach the UK -- more than the total between 2019 and 2023.

The report by 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 reunion to allow child refugees in the UK to bring close family members and piloting a refugee visa for 10,000 people from high grant countries.

"The UK Government must prioritise saving lives as part of the strategy for reducing irregular journeys," noted in the report, titled Deaths in the Channel: What Needs to Change.

Defining the record deaths as alarming, the Refugee Council highlighted that there is no official data tracking these fatalities, leaving a critical gap in evidence that is needed to inform policy.

"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 report, 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.

However, the Home Office publishes daily updates on the number of people and boats who have crossed, weekly updates on the number of people prevented from crossing, quarterly detailed datasets that include demographic information about who has crossed.

SEARCH AND RESCUE CAPACITY 'MUST BE IMPROVED'

The study found that enforcement measures, including increased efforts to disrupt smuggling gangs, have made Channel crossings "even more dangerous."

Refugee Council said that while the 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 English Channel to UK in 2024, up 25% on 2023.

The report cited 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."

The report added: "Steps must be taken to improve the search and rescue capacity in the Channel, particularly close to the French coast."