Crossing the Channel

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

On the 14th of December 2022, we heard yet again the tragic news of migrants drowning in the icy waters of the English Channel as they were making the perilous crossing from France to the United Kingdom. On the 27th of November 2021, twenty-seven migrants perished in one of the worst maritime disasters ever in the Channel.

What is the attraction that lures many to pay extortionate prices to criminal gangs, to climb on board an over-crowded, unseaworthy dinghy and attempt to reach the other side of arguably the busiest and most dangerous stretch of water in the world? Some, admittedly, are merely economic migrants, but others are eager to escape war, genocide, persecution and famine to enjoy an easier life in what they perceive to be a better land. Illegal migration has become a problem of major proportions, and attempts to satisfactorily solve the problem have failed and floundered, with around forty thousand arriving illegally in the UK in 2022. Some gain asylum in the UK and live comfortably, but others discover that their dream was just an illusion, and it quickly became a nightmare.

In search of a better life!

One of the most pressing problems for the European Union presently is that of the migrants who set out to cross the Mediterranean every week in search of a better life. In the Far East a similarly ghastly scenario is unfolding as thousands of Rohingya migrants flee persecution in their homeland, Burma. Some of these have not been allowed to disembark in neighbouring countries and have been turned away to face the perils of the merciless Andaman sea, the horrors of further weeks adrift and the all too real possibility of perishing in the insatiable waves.