Twelve people died at sea on Tuesday, September 3, when the boat they were trying to reach England on broke up off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer. (Pas-de-Calais)Since January, 34 candidates for exile have died in the Channel, according to a report given to franceinfo on Wednesday by the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea (Premar).
The year 2024 thus becomes the deadliest since the beginning of the phenomenon of crossings aboard makeshift boats, recorded since 2018. The previous record was recorded in 2021, with 31 deaths (including 27 during a shipwreck in November). In 2023, 16 people lost their lives in the Channel, and 5 in 2022, according to the maritime prefecture. There are “no more drama” in recent months, Premar acknowledges, while tempering: “A single shipwreck can be the cause of a catastrophic toll, it is not necessarily a reflection of the activity of the year.”
How can we explain this increase in mortality? In terms of departures, the trend is rather towards “drop”after a peak in 2021 with 51,000 individual attempts, according to the maritime prefecture. Nevertheless, “We have remained at high volumes for three years, with around 45,000 attempted departures each year.” Since the beginning of the year, Premar estimates that 25,000 people have tried to reach the United Kingdom.
The phenomenon gained momentum in the late 2010s as a result of the “strengthening of controls in the port of Calais and the Channel Tunnel”which made it more difficult to access England via “the rail and road vector”recalls Guillaume Sarrazin, member of the border police of the Somme and Pas-de-Calais, and Alliance union delegate.
“Although not exclusive, the main vector of immigration is now the sea route.”
Guillaume Sarrazin, Alliance union delegateto franceinfo
This mode of transport turns out to be more “effective”the unionist points out, since 40% of boats manage to leave the French coast without being stopped, according to the Ministry of the Interior. However, it is more “dangerous”. “Migrant populations are prepared to board boats in poor condition, without knowing how to swim and without life jackets, so the slightest hitch in the crossing immediately generates a drama”the police officer points out.
For migrant aid associations, the “repressive policy” The level of lethality of the crossings plays a major role in the authorities’ level of fatality. Some 1,700 police officers and gendarmes are deployed on the French coast, recalled Gérald Darmanin on Tuesday, assuring that he wanted to send additional resources. “Because of the ever-increasing militarization of the coastline, departures are being made further and further away, as far as Dieppe. [en Seine-Maritime] or the Bay of Somme”notes Flore Judet, coordinator of the association L’Auberge des migrants. The crossing being longer, the risk of being subjected to climatic hazards or damage is all the greater.
In addition, smugglers are increasingly using “taxis boats”, these boats launched on rivers, upstream from the sea, and which make stops off the beaches to allow exiles to swim to them. Under maritime law, the police cannot intervene, because the boats are already on the water. For migrants, “the danger is greater”underlines Flore Judet, since having to swim “increases the risk of hypothermia and drowning.”
“The very heavy police presence has the effect of putting enormous pressure on people. They therefore leave in stressful conditions, with boats that are not necessarily well prepared.”
Flore Judet, coordinator of the Migrant Hostelto franceinfo
All the actors interviewed testify to the extreme “violence” during boardings, both between law enforcement and migrants, but also between exiles. “People who were not expected to be on the boat, due to lack of means to pay for the crossing, are increasingly trying to force themselves into the boat at the time of departure, which is causing deaths by suffocation.”relates Guillaume Sarrazin, from the Alliance police union.
On April 23, Sara Alhashimi, aged 7, died a few metres from the beach in Wimereux (Pas-de-Calais), in front of her family and the police, during a boarding that turned into a scuffle. That day, like her, four other people died, not drowned at sea, but crushed on board the boat. “The police intervene with LBD shots and tear gas to try to prevent boarding”deplores Xavier Crombé, head of the France mission for Doctors Without Borders (MSF). “This creates panic situations that lead to drownings and stampedes into boats.”
“The fight against people smuggling networks has resulted in a reduction in the number of boats taken to coastline”but this “did not deter people who wanted to cross”continues Flore Judet. The activist speaks of increasingly “overloaded”In 2022 and 2023, the boats accommodated on average “50 to 60 migrants”reports the maritime prefecture. It counts today “70 to 80, sometimes even up to 100” by pneumatic. “With this factor alone, you multiply the risk of shipwreck.”notes Premar spokesperson Etienne Baggio.
While departures in 2018 were made “only during the day, in summer, with favorable weather conditions”the smugglers now take “increasing risks, leaving in bad weather conditions, at night, without stopping during the winter”notes police officer Guillaume Sarrazin. Furthermore, “Boats seem less safe than before”says the prosecutor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Guirec Le Bras. “Even some migrants feel that they are in a situation of obvious danger and call for help.”
Was this mortality predictable? “Every time border controls are strengthened, migrants and networks adapt their strategies, which leads them to take more risks”notes Camille Le Coz, associate director of the Migration Policy Institute Europe. The researcher regrets “an answer essentially “safe”, to the detriment of “the organization of the reception of migrants in France, the development of voluntary return policies or the establishment of safe passages to the United Kingdom”.
“The fight against people smugglers is part of the solution, but we cannot do without a global approach.”
Camille Le Coz, Associate Director of the Migration Policy Institute Europeto franceinfo
“Costly from a financial and human point of view, the current policy is ineffective, since it does not prevent crossings”adds Xavier Crombé of MSF. More than 21,600 exiles have already successfully made the crossing on inflatable boats since the beginning of the year, an unprecedented number, according to the British authorities. “We are not calling for a general opening of borders, but to recognise that one of the criteria of a migration policy must be its cost humancontinues Xavier Crombé. Today, this one is extraordinary.”