UK: New deal with France to stop small boat crossings ― First conviction under new crossing law ― Government closes 11 asylum hotels ― NGO report reveals shocking number of deaths of young asylum applicants ― NGO briefing raises concerns about female Afghan asylum applicants | European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)

The UK has signed a new agreement with France to prevent people from crossing the Channel in small boats.
An Afghan national has become the first person to be convicted of endangering others during a sea crossing to the UK.
The government has announced the closure of 11 hotels that were being used as asylum accommodation.
A new NGO report has revealed that more than 50 young asylum applicants have died in the UK since 2015.
A new NGO briefing has raised concerns about Afghan women being denied protection in the UK.

The UK has signed a new agreement with France to prevent people from crossing the Channel in small boats. Under the three-year agreement, which was signed by Home Secretary (Minister of the Interior) Shabana Mahmood and her French counterpart, Laurent Nuñez, on 23 April, the UK will pay £662 million for five new police units, including a riot squad of 50 officers trained in “crowd control tactics”, an additional 20 maritime officers to intercept so-called “taxi boats”, 12 additional intelligence officers, two helicopters and a camera system. It will also include the construction of a “removal centre” staffed by more than 200 officers for the detention and deportation of people from the 10 countries whose nationals top the list of people who try to cross the channel in small boats. Commenting on the deal, Imran Hussain from the Refugee Council said: “By focusing on policing the Channel, the government is treating the symptom not the cause. Policing alone will not prevent desperate people from turning to dangerous small boats in the first place”. His criticism of the deal was echoed by the head of ECRE member organisation Safe Passage International, Jo Cobley, who said: “With no accessible safe routes and the government’s suspension of refugee family reunion, the only way to reach the UK to ask for protection is across the Channel – punishing people with detention, deportation threats and police violence does not change that”.

An Afghan national has become the first person to be convicted of endangering others during a sea crossing to the UK. Tajik Mohammad had been “piloting” an overcrowded boat which was intercepted in the Channel on 17 January. He was arrested and charged under the ‘Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act’, which had only entered into force at the start of the month. On 22 April, he pleaded guilty to the offence at Canterbury Crown Court and is expected to be sentenced on 10 June. Separately, on 11 April, a Sudanese man pleaded not guilty to the same offence after four people died whilst trying to board a small boat he is accused of piloting across the Channel two days earlier. Alnour Mohamed Ali is due to appear at Canterbury Crown Court on 11 May.

The government has announced the closure of 11 hotels that were being used as asylum accommodation. In a press release issued on 15 April, the Home Office (Ministry of the Interior) stated that the closures formed part of the government’s efforts to “fix the broken asylum system” and that they would result in a saving of £65 million. It also stated that the government was “scaling up the use of large, basic accommodation sites to move people out of hotels for good”. The announcement was immediately condemned by opposition politicians and NGOs. Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Max Wilkinson said: “Closing asylum hotels is right for both communities and asylum seekers themselves, but it doesn’t fix the problem; it just move it elsewhere” while Imran Hussain from the Refugee Council said: “The government’s own spending watchdog previously found that [large military sites] are more expensive than hotels, and they isolate people from local communities and essential services”. Hussain also proposed an alternative to end the use of hotels as asylum accommodation, saying: “By giving permission to stay for a limited period – subject to rigorous security checks – to people from countries like Sudan and Iran, the government could empty hotels within a few months”.

A new NGO report has revealed that more than 50 young asylum applicants have died in the UK since 2015. According to the report, which was published by the Da’aro Youth Project, at least 54 young people who claimed asylum between 2015 and 2024 died “whilst in touch with a local authority”. It also noted that at least 31 of the deaths were suicides and that more people had died in the last five years than in the previous five, with the highest number (seven suicides and seven other deaths) recorded in 2024. Commenting on the findings, the head of the Da’aro Youth Project, Sarah Robson, said: “This is the first time this data has ever been compiled – and we find it to be very shocking. Unaccompanied young people, who have been forced to flee their homes and have come to the UK to find safety and sanctuary, are dying by suicide in great numbers”. “These young people are some of the most vulnerable young people in our society. They have been mistreated repeatedly by governments – with children treated as adults by the Home Office – and an asylum system that prioritises deterrence over sanctuary,” she added.

A new NGO briefing has raised concerns about Afghan women being denied protection in the UK. According to the briefing by Amnesty International UK and the Gender Action for Peace and Security Network, recognition rates for asylum claims by Afghan nationals have fallen sharply from 96% to 34% since May 2024 when the current government took office. It also noted that at least 370 Afghan women and girls had been refused asylum in 2025 alone. The two organisations have called on the government to reinstate refugee family reunion rules, repeal restrictive asylum decision-making provisions, abandon plans that weaken protection for recognised refugees and expand safe routes for women and girls fleeing conflict.

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