People smugglers have slashed their prices and are cramming more people than ever onto flimsy and overloaded boats, The Guardian has learned.
This week, 696 asylum seekers crossed the Channel from France to the UK in one day, the Ministry of Defense said.
The rise in the number of overcrowded boats with cheaper crossing prices shows that plans to forcibly remove some asylum seekers arriving in the UK on small boats are not acting as a deterrent, say activists
Last November, French police quoted a price of around £5,000 being charged by smugglers for a person to cross the Channel, according to reports in the Mirror. Now asylum seekers and non-governmental organizations say prices have dropped by between £500 and £1,000 for a place on a boat.
Until April this year, the government released less detailed data on the number of small boats arriving in the UK from France, but official statistics show that in 2018 there were an average of seven people on a small boat , in 2019 an average of 11 people per year. ship, in 2020 an average of 13 people per ship and in 2021 an average of 28 per ship.
Detailed data from April this year shows a significant upward trend, with about 50 people per ship on Monday’s crossings, when 696 people crossed on 14 ships.
Although there is some variation in the number of embarkations on each ship, since the announcement of the agreement to send asylum seekers to Rwanda on 14 April, the trend has been very up
Starting in May, and increasingly in June and July, more days show an average number of people on a single boat in the 40s or even 50. On Thursday, 388 people crossed on eight boats, an average of 48 or 49 people on each ship.
Last year, 28,526 crossed, up from 8,404 in 2020, and more than 13,000 have crossed this year, including more than 8,000 since the Rwanda policy was announced on April 14.
Arrivals of asylum seekers
Official reports have predicted that Rwanda’s plans are unlikely to succeed, but the government says it is determined to press ahead.
Handa Majed, the founder of the charity Kurdish Umbrella, said there had been a significant change in the way smugglers operated in northern France since the interior minister announced the Rwandan plans, but he said there was no evidence on the ground that he had acted. as a deterrent. He said smugglers had simply “adjusted” their business model.
“Initially, after Rwanda’s announcement was made, the smugglers were panicking. So they have cut their prices in half,” Majed said.
“In this area, smugglers are king. They are telling people not to worry about Rwanda. Right now the jungle [Calais refugee camp] it is full and smugglers offer much cheaper prices. They maintain their profits by cramming more people into one boat. Smugglers adapted to Brexit and now they have adapted again to Rwanda.
“Even if some smugglers are arrested, others will take their place. Their business model will not stand still, it will only adjust. They used to put 30 people on a boat, now there are many more”.
A Syrian asylum seeker told the Guardian that smugglers had dropped their prices dramatically. “It used to be £3,000 or £4,000 to cross. Now the maximum price is £1,200 and some asylum seekers are negotiating for as little as £500 to cross. Everyone can afford to cross these days. Some asylum seekers tell smugglers: “Why should I pay you £4,000 to go to the UK when I could end up in Rwanda? I will pay you £500. Then an agreement is reached.”
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A spokesman for the French NGO Utopia 56 said asylum seekers were crossing into the UK more quickly than before, spending on average a few weeks in northern France rather than months as was the case previously.
They said: “The quality of treatment of asylum seekers by the French government is declining every day. In Grande-Synthe [Dunkirk] 500 people live without access to water, and more than 1,000 in Calais live on the streets or in small forests. It is left to citizens and NGOs to provide food and health care.
“We are seeing new communities in the camps. It used to be mainly Kurdish, Pakistani and Afghani. We are still seeing people from these countries, but also from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Vietnam and Albania. The threat from Rwanda has not changed the thousands who believe.”
A government spokesman said: “The increase in dangerous canal crossings is unacceptable. People should always seek asylum in the first safe country they reach, rather than risking their lives and lining the pockets of ruthless criminal gangs.
“Under our new migration and economic development partnership with Rwanda, we are continuing preparations to relocate those who are making dangerous, unnecessary and illegal journeys so that their claims can be considered and they can rebuild their lives. their lives.”
Government sources said they could not comment on operational matters.