Refugee Council urges UK to introduce special visas in effort to stop deaths in the Channel
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Record number of deaths in 2024 leads to call for safe and legal routes for people to travel to UK to stop them resorting to smugglers. The Home Office is facing calls to introduce 10,000 refugee visas in an effort to reduce the death toll from people crossing the Channel in small boats, after a record number of lives were lost in 2024.
The groundbreaking proposal aimed at stopping migrants from resorting to using smugglers is contained in a report published on Thursday by the Refugee Council, titled Deaths in the Channel – what needs to change. It warns that unless a new approach is taken, this year could see a further increase in deaths. It also calls for better documentation of fatalities by French and UK authorities – including the age, gender and nationality of victims wherever possible – as well as improved search and rescue facilities along the coast of northern France.
At least 69 men, women and children died attempting to cross the Channel in 2024, more than the total of 59 deaths between 2019 and 2023. It is feared the true number could be higher. As a result of increased enforcement by French police on beaches along the northern coast, funded by UK government money, embarkations on flimsy dinghies have become more risky, chaotic and overcrowded – with police using teargas and slashing dinghies with knives.
