Many unaccompanied minors are among roughly a thousand people who currently live in unofficial settlements around Calais. A number of NGOs have deplored the chronic lack of accommodation places for these young people, made even more vulnerable by the "zero fixed settlement point" strategy.
The German Federal Police have joined France and the UK in an anti-people-smuggling operation called ‘Small Boats’. They say smugglers are buying boats in Germany with the aim of transporting migrants across the Channel.
The High Court in the UK has ruled against the government in a case involving two teenagers whose age was wrongly assessed on arrival. The teenagers were placed in an adult migrant facility, instead of one for minors.
On Monday the British government announced it would be drafting in members of the armed forces to help control the situation in the Channel, as migrants continue to cross despite cold temperatures and winter weather.
In the last few days, over 300 migrants have made it across the English Channel from France to the UK. More than 100 were intercepted by French authorities before they got to set sail from the coast. One person was declared dead.
The number of migrants rescued off the coast of Calais and taken in by the French state tripled in 2021, which was itself a record year for irregular Channel crossing attempts, the French Office of Immigration and Integration (Ofii) reported on January 10.
Last year, more than 28,000 migrants crossed the Channel from France to the UK in small boats. At least 44 people died or went missing during the attempt.
The year 2021 was another desperately hard year for migrants. More died at sea, thousands were stranded on the border between Belarus and Poland, and the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan forced huge numbers into exile. But there were also some heartwarming positives: laws to protect the most vulnerable, stories of individual success and of communities in support of one another.
The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan, an unprecedented influx of migrants in eastern Europe, an increase in deaths in the English Channel, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic – 2021 has been a tumultuous year for migrants and refugees on many fronts. We take a look at six of the most important developments of the year.
The bodies of at least 16 Kurdish migrants were returned to Iraq after their attempt to cross the English Channel ended in tragedy. The incident claimed a total of 27 lives.
The Paris prosecutor's office has received a lawsuit accusing several regional government bodies of failure to provide help in last month's boat wreck in the English Channel that cost the lives of at least 27 people trying to reach Britain.
All 27 migrants who drowned in last month’s boat disaster in the Channel have now been identified. The incident continues to cause diplomatic tensions between France and the UK.