Safe Routes

In 2024, at least 78 people died trying to cross the English Channel, making it the deadliest year on record. This is more than the total number of deaths between 2019 and 2023. A third of deaths were of children, including a four-month-old baby from Iraq who died on October 17, 2024.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) notes that at least 225 people have lost their lives attempting to cross since 2018.

These are not just numbers. In every moment it is crucial that we remember these lives as the individual, cherished people they were. For every death, or person missing, there is a family profoundly affected by their loss.

We can all agree on one thing – the deaths at our border must stop. As must the continued exploitation of desperate people with no alternative but to risk their lives, and the lives of their loved ones, in dangerous crossings.

Over the last decade different policies have been introduced under the banner of reducing these crossings. These so-called deterrents include the Illegal Migration Act, the Rwanda Act, and the proposed Border Security, Asylum & Immigration Bill – which includes increased policing of the border, and criminalisation of refugees. 

None of these policies have worked.

We believe all people have the right to claim asylum without further risking their life or the lives of their loved ones. We therefore demand safe routes.