Smugglers using loophole to get migrants safely across Channel
THE French Navy is escorting migrant boats across the Channel and into British waters because smuggling gangs are exploiting maritime legal loopholes, it has emerged, as MPS call for new powers to return people to France.
The small boats are often overloaded and sometimes taking on water, but when French vessels have attempted to intercept them, migrants have threatened to jump into the sea, or even throw children overboard.
By law, all mariners have a duty to provide assistance to vessels in distress at sea, stated in the International Convention on Safety of Life at Sea, 1974.
Their refusal to be rescued by French authorities puts lives at risk, so the French have no option but to shadow the boats across the Channel until they reach British waters, where the migrants are safe in the knowledge that they will be taken to Britain.
Home Office sources told The Daily Telegraph: “At sea, under international law, the preservation of life is paramount. There have been some instances where migrants refuse to board French boats. The boat will remain with the migrants to ensure their safety.”
On Wednesday, four more boats were brought to Dover, having been collected by Border Force agents just inside British waters. So far this year, 1,715 people have made it to the UK this way, with a record 681 coming in May alone. Last year, a total of 1,890 people crossed the Channel illegally.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, says she is planning to bring in new laws after the Brexit transition period to make it easier to return migrants to France, but MPS are calling for action sooner.
Natalie Elphicke, MP for Dover and Deal, said: “These crossings will only stop when migrants and traffickers alike know they won’t succeed. That means making the legal tools available to return every illegal entrant.”
Lucy Moreton of the Immigration Services Union, representing border workers, told The Daily Telegraph: “While return at sea is logical, it is dangerous. I am not sure the British public is willing to see fatalities arise.”