It’s Time for More Balanced and Evidence-based Narratives on Migration

You would be forgiven for thinking that the UK is experiencing a full-blown migration crisis. Under the glare of relentless attention paid to migrants in small boats in the English Channel, it is easy to forget that not only does the UK rank quite far below average for asylum applications if compared to other European countries, current asylum application numbers are far from unprecedented in scale; rather it is the form of arrival on small boats that is new and more visible as the channel crossings gain extensive media coverage.

We are also seeing significant numbers of deaths in the English channel, unfortunately an increasing feature of migration routes worldwide. In fact, IOM’s Missing Migrants Project has tracked 27,000 deaths on migration routes to and within Europe since 2014, with the Central Mediterranean known to be the world’s most deadly migration route.

Since at least the 1990s, people have attempted to reach the United Kingdom irregularly from the coast near Calais, France, either via the Eurotunnel, by stowing away on trucks or other vehicles or via the Port of Calais, where they attempt to board ferries or use small unseaworthy boats from other points on the coast of France to try to reach Dover or other ports in southern England.