- A man who has only been identified as ‘a migrant’ was electrocuted after he climbed onto a stationary Eurostar train at a station in Paris while 140 people were rescued by French authorities in two days as they tried to cross the Channel in small boats.
- The Senegalese teenager who piloted a boat that sank in the Channel in December 2022 has been convicted of the manslaughter of the four passengers who drowned.
- The government has earmarked £576,500 (€675,000) to pay for advertising campaigns and TikTok influencers in various countries to discourage people from trying to cross the Channel in small boats.
- 19 people have been arrested by Belgian, French and German police following a year-long investigation into an Iraqi-Kurdish network that was suspected of smuggling people from the Middle East and East Africa across the Channel in small boats.
Although the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats in 2023 fell by more than a third compared to 2022 (45,755), it was still the second highest on record (29,437). Of the 29 people known to have died trying to travel from France to the UK in 2023, at least 13 lost their lives in six incidents related to sea crossings.
A man who the police identified as ‘a migrant’ was electrocuted at a station in Paris after he climbed on top of a train that was due to head to London through the Channel Tunnel. According to the French police, the man came into contact with an overhead wire after he had climbed onto the roof of a stationary Eurostar train at the Gare du Nord in the evening of 10 February and died at the scene as a result of the injuries that he sustained. On 16 February, six people were taken to hospital after they were found in the back of a lorry aboard a ferry in the port of Newhaven in southeast England. According to the BBC, two men were arrested in connection with the incident: one for ‘facilitating illegal entry to the UK’ and the other for ‘illegally entering the UK’. The first man was subsequently charged. Elsewhere, 140 people were rescued by French authorities as they tried to cross the Channel on 17 and 18 February. According to InfoMigrants, 57 people who had set off from Gravelines near Calais were rescued by the French coast guard on 17 February, and 75 others were rescued from a boat following a distress call. In addition, five people, including a fourth-month-old baby, were saved after their boat sank off the coast of Boulogne.
On 19 February, a Senegalese teenager who piloted a boat that sank in the Channel in December 2022 with the loss of four lives has been found guilty of manslaughter and of facilitating illegal entry to the UK after a retrial. Ibrahimi Bah told Canterbury Crown Court that he had offered to steer the dinghy in exchange for a free crossing for himself and his friend before he had seen it but that he had changed his mind when he arrived on the beach on the French coast and saw that it was too small for the number of passengers. He also claimed that he was assaulted by people smugglers and threatened with death if he did not pilot the boat. However, prosecutors argued that he had a duty of care for the other passengers and that he was, therefore, responsible for the deaths of the four people who drowned when the boat sank. It is the first time that a migrant who has navigated an inflatable boat trying to cross the Channel has been found responsible for harm caused to other passengers. However, people who have piloted boats carrying migrants have been prosecuted in other European countries. Commenting on the verdict, the journalist Nicola Kelly wrote on X: “Devastating news for Ibrahima Bah – and a far more significant, precedent-setting trial than people realise”. “It’s a slippery slope. This case could very easily mark the start of many more boat pilot trials of exactly this kind,” she added. Similarly, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants wrote: “We stand in solidarity and rage with Ibrahima Bah. Instead of condemning this young man, the blame for deaths in the Channel should be placed squarely where it lies – with this government’s hateful policies that make it impossible for people to come to this country safely.” The Greek organisation Refugee Legal Support wrote that Bah was “being made a scapegoat for a lack of safe routes to the UK” and Dan Sohege from the UK organisation Stand for All wrote: “Targeting those seeking asylum doesn’t stop gangs. It just creates more victims”.
According to draft documents seen by the Times, the UK government is planning to involve TikTok influencers to warn migrants against trying to cross the Channel in small boats. Reporting on the Times story, Euronews states that the UK home office has been running paid advertising campaigns on social media in Albania, Belgium and France for several years, and that it is planning to expand the campaign to other countries, including Egypt, India, Iraq, Turkey and Vietnam. It adds that £576,500 (€675,000) has been ‘put aside for the five countries’ and that the Home Office had £30,000 (over €35,000) to pay for influencers in Albania ‘with each individual pay capped at £5,000 (€5,860)’ plus £15,000 (€17,580) to pay for influencers in Egypt and Vietnam. In a statement, the Home Office told Euronews: “People smugglers frequently use social media to peddle lies and promote their criminal activities, and it is vital that we utilise the same platforms to inform migrants about the truths about crossing the Channel and coming to the UK illegally.” Commenting on the story, the UK branch of the International Rescue Committee wrote on X: “People risk their lives because there are no safe routes. Instead of wasting money on cruel gimmicks, we urge the UK to deliver an effective asylum system.”
19 people have been arrested by Belgian, French and German police following a year-long investigation into the smuggling of migrants across the Channel in small boats. On 21 February, Europol announced that the operation has led to the dismantling of an ‘Iraqi-Kurdish network suspected of smuggling middle-Eastern and East African irregular migrants from France to the UK with the use of low quality inflatable boats’. According to the Guardian, among the arrests were ‘five “high value” targets or people in controlling roles in the gang’ which was based in Germany. Europol also shared details of the boats used in the gang’s people smuggling operation and the fees paid by migrants, saying “When used legally, such boats would not be suitable nor safe for the transportation of more than 10 individuals. However, on average, smugglers put around 50 migrants in one of these boats. In total, the investigators have gathered evidence linking at least 55 departures that were facilitated solely by this smuggling network. The suspects collected between €1,000 [£856] and €3,000 per migrant for a place”.
For further information:
- ECRE, UK: The Country ‘Shakes Hands’ with France while Channel Drownings Double — Criticism of the ‘Rwanda’ Bill Continues — Uncertainty and Despair Among Asylum Seekers, February 2024
- ECRE, France: New Immigration Law Adopted Despite Constitutional Council Rejecting Almost Half of Its Articles ― Authorities in Marseille Accused of Ignoring Obligations Towards Unaccompanied Migrant Children ― Paris Police Evict Migrant Teenagers From Temporary Housing Despite Freezing Conditions ― Franco-British Migration Pact Blamed For Doubling Of Channel Deaths, February 2024