Failed Australia policy proves offshore camps don’t deter migrants, says expert

THE number of migrants seeking to cross the Channel from France to England rose 68 per cent in the first half of 2022, the French interior ministry said on Monday (20).

From January 1 to June 13, there were 777 attempted crossings involving 20,132 people, up 68 per cent on the same period last year, the ministry said.

It emphasised that the French security forces had prevented most of the crossings, with 61.39 per cent of the attempts thwarted in the first half, up 4.2 per cent on last year.

The figures for all of 2021 had already been a record, but the latest statistics show this could be beaten if current trends continue, with the better summer weather settling in that encourages more crossings.

Some 52,000 people tried to cross in 2021, with 28,000 of the migrants succeeding, according to the French authorities.

The numbers come as the UK seeks to toughen its policy against illegal arrivals.

Britain has repeatedly accused the French authorities of not doing enough to stop the crossings, a charge denied by Paris in a spat that has further strained relations after Brexit.

The UK is planning to deport illegal migrants, including those who arrive across the Channel, to Rwanda under an agreement with the African nation.

However, the first flight last week was cancelled after a lastminute intervention by the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which enraged London.

The British prime minister Boris Johnson – who has taken advice from a series of prominent Australian political strategists – has argued that the UK’s policy will convince would-be migrants not to undertake perilous sea journeys on often rickety and overloaded vessels.

However, Australian legal expert Madeline Gleeson, of the Kaldor Centre, said data shows “definitively” that offshore detention did not work in deterring asylum seekers.

Gleeson said the UK scheme most closely mirrors Australia’s policy between August 2012 and July 2013, when only some asylum seekers were sent to offshore camps.

“In that period, the number of people arriving by boat continued to rise to levels never before seen in Australia,” she said.

Under Australia’s “Pacific Solution”, thousands of people who attempted to reach the country by boat were moved to offshore centres on Manus and the tiny nation of Nauru. There, they were processed, given identification numbers and barred from ever permanently settling in Australia.

Many languished in the camps for years, in conditions described by rights groups as “hellish”.

After vast taxpayer expense, 14 detainee deaths, a string of suicide attempts – some by detainees who were as young as five – and at least six referrals to the International Criminal Court, Australia’s scheme has been scaled back piece-by-piece.

As of last month there were about 100 people still on Nauru.

Aid workers in Calais are attempting to dilute the impact of the UK policy and, if possible, get it reversed.

“It’s a really brutal plan. After all they have gone through to get here and get to safety, the last thing that they want is to be sent back to Africa,” said Briton Clare Moseley, who works for the Care4Calais charity.

Her role includes informing would-be asylum seekers about their rights once they reach the UK. “People we talk to are really frightened of it and I can’t believe the UK government would do something like this,” Moseley added.