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More than 150 people have died crossing the English Channel in the last five years according to recorded data but charities warn the true numbers could be far higher.

The number of desperate people who died trying to make it to the UK in 2021 makes up more than 25 per cent of all migrant deaths since records began.

People crossing the English Channel in boats or in the back of lorries surged this year, with over 23,000 making the treacherous crossing so far, according to the International Organisation for Migrations (IOM) Missing Migrants Project.

The organisation warned that figures must be considered to be a low count of the true number of missing migrants, due to the challenges of collecting data as well as the large number of invisibleshipwrecks that happen without witness or record.

It comes as efforts continue to identify the 27 people whose lives were lost in the Channel on Wednesday in one of the darkest days of the migrant crisis. A source at the French prosecutors office told i they included three children, seven women and 17 men. One of the women is understood to have been pregnant.

IOM confirmed the tragedy was the largest loss of life in the Channel since it began collecting data in 2014.

What makes people cross the Channel are there are no other routes to get here to claim asylum. You must be on UK soil to claim asylum here, a Refugee Action spokesman told i.

When there is no other option, people put their lives in the hands of criminal gangs and step into flimsy boats and hope for the best.

Of those who cross the Channel, 98 per cent claim asylum, according to Refugee Council.

Charities have condemned the Government for not ensuring there are safer routes for people seeking asylum that dont see people forced to put their lives and the lives of their families in danger.

Minnie Rahman, interim chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), told i: What happened yesterday was a devastating but avoidable tragedy. At least 27 people with hopes, dreams, families and futures died in a cold stretch of sea because this government has been playing politics with peoples lives.

She argued that over the course of the pandemic many safe routes to people seeking asylum have been closed down, leaving no way for people to get to the UK safely.

The Government has repeatedly prioritised, cruel, unworkable and dangerous border measures like pushbacks in the Channel, which will only lead to more deaths, she said.

Experts have also pointed out that while applications for asylum have increased, the number of people resettled has dramatically fallen from the year before.

The number of people granted protection through resettlement schemes has fallen by 46 per cent in the year ending September 2021 and now stands at just over 1,000, said Marley Morris, Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) associate director.

The figures also show an overall 18 per cent year-on-year increase in asylum applications, but with total numbers still far lower than the peak in the early 2000s. Moreover, the number of asylum applications with an initial decision pending has continued to rise, in part as a result of extensive delays in asylum processing.

He added the number of asylum applications still pending an initial decision stands at around 68,000, with around two thirds taking more than six months to process.

The Refugee Council is calling on the Government to:

Meanwhile in Calais, a makeshift graveyard has been set up to remember each of the refugees who have died trying to reach Europe. One of the wooden crosses has been placed for newborn Samir Khalida, who was killed when her mother, who left Eritrea for a better life in Europe, fell from a truck, triggering her premature birth.

The graveyard is expected to grow as more and more people attempt to come to the UK over the coming months.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said Wednesdays tragedy serves as the starkest possible reminder of the dangers of these Channel crossings organised by ruthless criminal gangs.

She said the Governments new plan for immigration will overhaul our broken asylum system and address many of the long-standing pull factors encouraging migrants to make the perilous journey from France.

The Home Office said there are other safer and legal routes for people to use to come to the UK such as work and study routes, as well as family resettlement.

It added the new Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme will give 20,000 Afghans fleeing persecution a new life in the UK through a safe and legal route.

i revealed on Thursday that the Afghan Resettlement Scheme still has not opened three months after the Government announced it.

Excerpt from:
Migrant crisis: More than 150 people died crossing Channel in last 5 years and the total could be far higher - iNews

B

oris Johnson has said the UK will stand shoulder to shoulder with Poland against those who would try to provoke a migrant crisis on its borders.

Meeting Mr Johnson in Downing Street on Friday, Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned the situation affecting his country is getting crazy.

Poland has been facing a crisis on its border with Belarus for months, with thousands of migrants, mainly from the Middle East attempting to cross into the European Union.

Brussels has accused Belaruss authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin of deliberately encouraging the migrants to breach its borders in retaliation for sanctions the EU has imposed in response to his repressive rule.

The Prime Minister said during his meeting with Mr Morawiecki: I think this is an important occasion and we are very, very grateful to you for visiting us, for coming to Number 10, to London, because this is a moment where we can reaffirm our commitment to the relationship but also to standing shoulder to shoulder with Poland against those who would try to provoke a migrant crisis, for instance, on Polish borders.

Mr Morawiecki said that things are now getting very much crazy around us.

He said the UK and Poland have almost the same priorities and are on the same hymn sheet.

He also warned of some not so good guys around the democratic world and transatlantic community.

We have to stay together in front of all those challenges, he said.

Mr Morawiecki added that he felt great sorrow over the news that 27 people died attempting to cross the English Channel.

Mr Johnson replied: That, again, underlines that this is a problem that we have to fix together.

The PM also described Poland as the UKs closest European Nato ally on matters of security and defence.

He said: This is a chance for us to reaffirm our commitment to you as I think probably our closest European Nato ally in our thinking and our commitment to our long-term security and defence relationship not to say nothing of our economic relationship.

Downing Street said the men went on to discuss the situation in Ukraine, as well as the impact of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

They noted concerning threats against Ukraine, and emphasised our unwavering support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, it said.

Both leaders welcomed the close economic, social and cultural ties between the British and Polish people, and looked forward to boosting our trading relationship.

The Prime Minister set out the United Kingdoms ongoing concerns about the detrimental impact of the Northern Ireland Protocol, and the fact that it was creating an impediment to the east-west trade on which Northern Irelands economy depends.

Read more from the original source:
PM says UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Poland on migrant crisis - Evening Standard

To see how far we have come and, spoiler, it is not far at all in the way we talk about refugees, one only has to play a fun game of: who said it, Tory leader or Edwardian priest?

You have got a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain People are really rather afraid that this country might be swamped by people with a different culture In some districts every vestige of comfort had been absolutely wiped out, the foreigners coming in like an army of locusts

The first, of course, was David Camerons controversial comment to ITV News at the height of the refugee crisis in July 2015 (comments from which even Nigel Farage attempted to distance himself). The second isMargaret Thatcher speaking in 1978. The third is courtesy ofCosmo Gordon Lang, the bishop of Stepney, writing about the Jewish diaspora in 1902.

Langs choice of (slightly mixed) metaphors army and locusts continue to be the most common way refugees are written about today: either asmilitary invasion (theNew York Timescarried a picture caption, for example, that described Greek authorities using tear gas, batons, stun grenades and rubber bullets to repel the hordes, and last year the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, appointed a Clandestine Channel Threat Commander to tackle crossings); or as a natural force a flood, an influx, a tsunami, a swarm. Both are, obviously, negative images, but they are problematic for different reasons. The first suggests not only that migration happens in some strategised, organised way, but that refugees have a choice about leaving; it is active and deliberate. The second suggests that migration is uncontrollable; it removes the agency of governments to do anything about it for good or ill.

[See also: How much does the UK government really care about fixing the migrant crisis?]

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The word migrant (often used interchangeably with immigrant, though they mean subtly different things) encompasses refugees, but also those who leave their countries of birth for other reasons, such as economic opportunities or education. Refugees, by contrast, are those who flee because of war, persecution or natural disaster. The former indicates choice, which those risking their lives to cross the English Channel in desperation do not have. Moreover, both migrant and immigrant are examples of nominalisation, or nouns that are formed from verbs. This shift implies identity rather than action; people who migrate are no longer people, but migrants.

Such language conveniently helps shift the responsibility from governments, as it implies that citizens are moving of their own volition, rather than because the circumstances in their home countries leave them no alternative. Using the word refugee, by contrast, acknowledges and calls out conflict, human rights abuses and corruption.

The word illegal is often found alongside immigrant, but this is also wrong as was Boris Johnsons assertion last yearthat crossing the Channel is always criminal, much as he might like it to be. For a start, a person cannot be illegal, even if their actions are. For refugees, the action of crossing borders is not illegal: the 1951 Refugee Convention affords them a legal status and states that host governments are responsible for their protection.

[See also: Twenty-seven people have drowned in the English Channel. This is a predictable and ongoing tragedy]

There is also something distinctly racist about the double standards with which we apply the word migrant. Consider, for example, theTelegraphheadline: Angela Merkel says nein to Theresa Mays calls for early deal on rights of EU migrants and British ex-pats. When British people migrate (and they do in 2019 there were994,000 British nationalsliving in other EU countries alone), they are described as expats, but those who seek refuge or a better life in Britain are migrants. The word expat, an abbreviation of expatriate, originates in the Latin ex meaning out of and patria meaning country or homeland. An expat is literally anyone who has temporarily or permanently left the place they were born, regardless of ethnicity or class. And yet those moving from Africa or Asia are classified as immigrants.

These observations are not academic: the way we talk about the refugee crisis matters. There is a clear link between humanising language and empathy. A study by the University of Sheffield found that after the image of Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy, lying dead on a beach went viral in 2015, refugee became more commonly used on social media than migrant. And it is surely no coincidence that the greatly exaggerated language in the media and politicians speeches is mirrored by a greatly exaggerated public belief of the scale of the problem. Most Britonsoverestimatethe number of non-British nationals in the UK, believing that around a third of the population are migrants; the real figure is more like14 per cent.

We should take care to avoid the easy metaphors of war or disaster, the stigmatising (and incorrect) descriptor illegal, and the generic use of migrant when what we really mean is refugee. Better yet, call them people.

[See also: Leader: A fractured continent]

Read more:
Why the language we use to talk about the refugee crisis matters - New Statesman

MINSK, 26 November (BelTA) Belarus' parliamentary delegation headed by Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic Natalya Kochanova took part in the 53rd plenary session of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS IPA), BelTA has learned.

The delegation included Sergei Sivets, a member of the Presidium of the Council of the Republic, Feliks Yashkov, a member of the Council of the Republic, and Valentin Semenyako, a member of the House of Representatives.

The MPs adopted a joint statement of the CIS IPA, the IOM Vienna Regional Office and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe "On legislative measures to ensure labor migration during the pandemic", which proposes universal measures and guarantees for migrant workers in the field of social protection and health.

"The topic of our joint statement is extremely important and relevant. People of different ethnicities and faiths live in peace and harmony in Belarus. But we could have never imagined that we would face a serious migrant situation on the border of Belarus with the European Union, which could become explosive. Our country is wrongly accused of creating a migrant crisis. We are barraged with fake stories, lies and misinformation. Belarus is not the cause and source of this problem," Natalya Kochanova said.

The speaker noted that people are fleeing the Middle Eastern countries, war and poverty and are making their way to the European Union that promised them a better future.

Citizens of Belarus, senators, MPs, public associations are outraged by the prejudiced attitude towards Belarus on the part of European countries. We have repeatedly appealed to all European organizations, to fellow parliamentarians. Yet, unfortunately, to be honest, they do not really hear us. Moreover, with great concern we learned about the inclusion in the tentative agenda of the 143rd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union that is kicking off in Madrid today, an emergency item about suppression of trafficking in persons, ending human rights violations and work towards free and fair elections in Belarus. This item was sponsored by the delegations of Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands and Poland. How cynical it is that meanwhile Poland is using force against peaceful refugees, dousing them with water cannons, throwing tear gas, stun grenades and chemicals, Natalya Kochanova said.

The Investigative Committee of Belarus opened a criminal case under the article Crime against Security of Humankind. A total of 132 victims were identified, including women and children. People were at the border in inhuman conditions, freezing and starving. On the instructions of the president of Belarus, we created satisfactory living conditions for them. Special attention is paid to the health of people, Natalya Kochanova said.

Our long-suffering country that lost every third resident during the Great Patriotic War knows the price of peace and calm. We are not ready for a war on our territory started through someone else's fault. Yet, we cannot leave people in dire straits, and we will continue to support these disadvantaged refugees using our own resources, the chairperson of the Council of Republic added.

It is very important that the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly raises issues related to migrants, the legal regulation of their status and activities in our countries and other states. This work of all the CIS bodies, including our parliamentary organization, deserves support and gratitude. On part of the Interparliamentary Assembly we have an opportunity to present our position to the world community and expect to be heard, she said.

The participants of the meeting also considered the model laws On Equal Access to Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of HIV Infection in the CIS Countries, On Organ Donation and On Evaluation Activity.

Member of the Council of the Republic Feliks Yashkov presented documents on defense and security. They included the recommendations on the integration of norms of the international humanitarian law into the directive documents of the armed forces, the system of military professional education and training of troops (forces) of the CIS member states and also the model assessment methodology for initiatives in the regulation of the circulation of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors.

The new wording of the Provision on the IPA Standing Commissions - one of the main documents regulating the activities of the IPA CIS and its bodies - was approved at the meeting. Sergei Sivets, a member of the Presidium of the Council of the Republic, gave a speech on the issue. Belarus made substantive proposals on the necessity to fix the algorithm of leadership distribution in standing commissions among the parliaments and introduce equal representation of deputy chairpersons of standing commissions. The proposals were taken into account.

More:
Kochanova: Belarus is wrongly accused of creating migrant crisis - Belarus News (BelTA)

Sergei Rachkov. File phtoo

MINSK, 26 November (BelTA) - The EU needs to look for a solution to the situation on the border in cooperation with Belarus, Chairman of the Standing Commission on International Affairs and National Security of the Council of the Republic Sergei Rachkov told the media, BelTA has learned.

"A political solution is needed. In the telephone conversation with Germany's Acting Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Belarusian president proposed a certain algorithm of actions. A solution must be found in any case. And, as they say in diplomacy, the ball is in the court of the European Union. Our European partners should act, rather than talk about new sanctions against the Republic of Belarus that fully complies with international, humanitarian law, provides assistance to disadvantaged people who have been forced to seek shelter in another country," Sergei Rachkov said.

The senator noted that many of those, who are now stranded on the Belarusian-Polish border, have families in the EU. These people seek to reunite their families.

"The European Union needs to look for a solution in cooperation with the Belarusian head of state," Sergei Rachkov said.

Continued here:
Senator: EU needs to look for solution to migrant crisis in cooperation with Belarus - Belarus News (BelTA)