like the ‘war on drugs’ it is a pointless and costly battle

Following the Prime Minister and Yvette Cooper ‘top’ about ‘smuggling gangs’ On 6 September (16 September), the government announced the appointment of the new Commander of Border Forces, Martin Hewitt.

The announcement came as Starmer was in talks with Georgia Meloni, the Prime Minister of Italy, about border security and cooperation between countries on illegal immigration. According to press reports, Starmer is interested in Meloni’s approach to migrant and refugee returns with Tunisia and plans to move asylum claims to Albania. Hewitt accompanied Starmer on the trip, indicating how important Starmer sees the role of security in ‘crushing gangs’. Will it work?

The United Kingdom cannot act unilaterally

The UK is subject to refugee, international and maritime law. It is not illegal for anyone to leave a country and the French and Belgian authorities have no legal rights to prevent departure. There are no international waters between France/Belgium and England along the 120 miles of border crossings where the government can (legally but not morally) push boats back into, as Australia and the EU have done. And the UK border guards cannot enter French waters or push boats back into France without permission.

Once in UK waters, all ships and boats have a legal obligation to rescue people at risk of drowning and take them to the nearest UK port. The previous (naval) Border Command recognised these obligations and landed boats in the UK as soon as they reached territorial waters. This prevented unnecessary deaths and ensured that no one on the boats could ‘disappear’ on the Kent coast when the rowing boats came ashore.

EU policy and impact on refugee flows in the UK

Everyone who crosses the Channel has come through an EU country. The first lines of the UK’s ‘fortress defences’ are the EU’s land borders and the control of the Mediterranean by Frontex (the EU’s border force). Hostility towards refugees and migrants has increased in recent years. Individual countries and the EU as a whole are rethinking how to adapt to this changing environment. Hungary has already closed its borders, undermining an EU response.

Italy’s agreement with Tunisia to prevent migrants from leaving Africa and return those who do reach Italy to Tunisia has led to a 60% reduction in the flow this year. Unilateral measures like these can limit the flow of refugees to one country (and provide a breathing space in which a more strategic and sustainable response can be achieved), but have little impact on the total numbers arriving in Europe.

As one route becomes more difficult, refugees and immigrants try another. The preferred route was from Tunisia to Italy or Malta until Meloni’s actions, but since then departures have returned to Libya, and before that it was Turkey. There has also been an increase in boats leaving from the west coast of Africa for the Canary Islands.

Life for the people of Tunisia, who cannot cross the Mediterranean, is grim. Many have been rounded up and transported to the Sahara desert, where they are left without food or water. Many have died. Italy has not only externalized its borders, it has also outsourced its humanity.

Unilateral action also threatens a more coherent EU and international response (for better or worse). Either an EU approach wins, or individual countries tighten border controls, as the Netherlands and Germany are considering. If they do, and other countries follow, we can expect more asylum seekers to try to reach the UK, or a major political and security crisis across Europe (from which the UK will not be immune).

While the EU will work closely with the UK on a number of issues of common interest, the UK can expect little sympathy. The world’s sixth richest country takes in just 0.4% of the world’s 110 million displaced people and 1.8% of those displaced in Europe. Germany takes in three times as many refugees and France twice as many as the UK.

Safe routes are not a panacea

At present, the government has not indicated that it will open safe routes; the focus is on suppression and reducing the number of people for whom the UK offers refuge. Safe routes could reduce the number of deaths and would allow some of those most in need of protection to come to the UK. However, unless the UK commits to accepting significantly more refugees than it does now, the flow of those attempting to come to the UK is likely to remain largely the same and any safe routes would run parallel to, rather than replace, small boat crossings.

Unless the international community addresses environmental degradation, distributes and protects the world’s scarce resources more fairly, reduces civil and international conflict, and provides better support to individuals and refugees closer to home, people will be forced to migrate.

Criminal Gangs or Rescuers?

Trafficking is the movement of a human ‘product’, while smuggling meets the needs of immigrant or refugee ‘clients’. Trafficking is based on exploitation, smuggling on the provision of a much-needed service for which individual migrants pay. However, vulnerable refugees and migrants can be exploited and trafficked, and trafficked people can escape and become migrants (with or without the protection of law). The operational models share some similarities and pathways, but also some important differences.

It is not possible to get out of countries where many refugees come from – Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan for example – without the help of guides (or smugglers). Few refugees will survive the journey without them, and they are valued service providers. The more dangerous and difficult the route, the greater the need for smugglers.

The driving force behind human trafficking and illegal immigration is cheap labour that can be exploited for profit. While the UK economy is dependent on cheap immigrant labour, but access to the UK is restricted, exploitation will continue to flourish. Racism and hostility; blaming the victims rather than the perpetrators, perpetuates it. Textile production, takeaway and restaurant food, fresh and processed food production, care work and construction all employ large numbers of illegal immigrants.

Punitive measures may intimidate, but will never deter

Punishing refugees or exploited labour makes no difference to the numbers trying to get to or being brought to the UK. In Australia, pushbacks at sea, sending refugees back to Indonesia and denying asylum to refugees did not work (despite claims) and will not work here. The Italian approach has simply shifted the migration routes.

In the UK, the threat of Rwanda has done little to deter (but has increased the number of refugees being exploited by criminal ‘gangs’). The breaking up of boats in France has only led to overcrowding and more deaths. The cruelty inflicted on those returning to Turkey, Libya and Tunisia, or Albania in the case of trafficking, means that people are trying (or being trafficked) again and again to reach Europe.

Events at home trigger the journey and experiences on the journey shape further decision-making. Refugees and migrants know little about the UK or any other country. Information is fragmented and often incorrect. Threats about future treatment or refusal of settlement are irrelevant to decision-making. Social benefits and housing have no influence on decisions and few migrants know about the resources (state and voluntary) available to them.

Because migrants are also unaware of the organisations that could help them, prosecuting NGOs that support migrants in the camps or rescue them at sea has no effect on the flow. Nicholas Winterton forged hundreds of papers to smuggle Jewish children from Nazi Germany to the UK. Today he faces life in prison.

There are no simple solutions

“Crush the gangs” is as empty as “stop the boats” or “take back control of our borders.” Politicians who claim they can achieve what no other (modern, democratic, civilized) government has achieved so far are either naive or duplicitous.

Control and punitive deterrence are illusions. Only if they are implemented with a sufficient degree of brutality, at least equal to that of the countries from which refugees flee, will punitive measures remove the UK from the mental map of safe countries for migrants. The pursuit of punitive deterrence is a race to the lowest depths of inhumanity – and ineffective, as Italy has shown.

Despite all the UK’s faults and sometimes poor treatment of refugees, it remains one of the safest countries in the world for people fleeing violence. Communities across the UK have welcomed and supported refugees.