Analysis of the English Channel Tragedy – The Johnson Administration’s Unsuccessful Plans

The killing of 27 refugees on a boat in the English Channel on Wednesday also caused great shock in Great Britain. Many Brits have this biggest yet Tragedy, a few miles from their coast, are deeply shocked. The biggest outrage on the part of the British government, many politicians from the Conservative Party and the entire right-wing press on the island does not apply to that. Unscrupulous smugglers, but neighbors across the canal, who are believed to be politically responsible.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Paris simply “didn’t do enough” to prevent the disaster. The French always caused new “difficulties” when there were problems to be resolved, Johnson complained – rather than, say, make way and let the British border guards on the French side of the Channel see that things were going well.

‘Taking back control’ – fallacy

On the British side, the exchange of verbal blows has an ideological as well as a tactical one. While leaving the European Union, the hardline Brexit Guard, who had been in government in London for two years, solemnly promised voters that Brexit would make the United Kingdom possible again. “Control your own limits” Playing sports.

It is clear that this promise cannot be fulfilled. You can no longer even return unwanted arrivals to France because you no longer belong to the European Union. No wonder the Minister of the Interior Priti Patel It now finds itself under great pressure in its own ranks. After all, two years ago, too, she vowed that she would make the canal’s path “impassable”.

The number of asylum applications in Great Britain is not particularly high. It is just a third of the number of applicants in France. Only, partly due to the security of the Calais border crossing now entered and partly because of Covid, since 2018 no refugees have come to Great Britain via the “traditional” route, that is, via a tunnel or ferry. Instead, more and more people are daring to take a very dangerous and overt trek across the canal in kayaks, boats, and inflatables. There were 25,700 this year alone.

Minister Patel relies on extensive deterrence measures.

In order to save those concerned from the sheer danger, British refugee associations have long advocated the establishment of “safe transport corridors” between the two countries – British asylum testing centers on French soil, with safe transport to England after approval. However, the government rejected such a proposal. Instead, Minister Patel is relying on extensive deterrence measures. According to a new law currently before Parliament, all boat people will be considered “illegal” in the future, they no longer in principle have the right to settle and can even be punished with up to four years in prison.

Meanwhile, Patel is looking for remote countries or islands that can “outsource” asylum seekers who have arrived in Britain while their applications are being examined. The Ministry of the Interior still adheres to the project of “removing” refugee boats on the high seas using wave machines and large ships. But it is understandable that several associations have announced legal action against this plan.

The protests were also sparked by the fact that some Conservative MPs are already trying to invalidate the European Convention on Human Rights in their country over the boat people. For these politicians, sympathy for desperate asylum seekers has clear limits. The English Channel can never be wide enough for you.

Posted today at 19:54

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