Refugee Council campaign group on Thursday urged UK government to change its approach and provide safe routes for migrants.
This came after over 27 people drowned in the English Channel while trying to reach the UK from France on a rubber boat.
Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said in a statement “surely a tragedy of this magnitude is the wakeup call.
“Our Government needs to change its approach and finally commit to an expansion of safe routes for those men, women and children in desperate need of protection.
“This is a humanitarian disaster that should never have happened.
“It’s incomprehensible that so many lives have been lost by people on a desperate and harrowing journey to Britain who were just trying to find safety.’’
On Wednesday, a boat with migrants sunk in the Strait of Dover.
France had initially reported 31 deaths, but the number was later revised down to 27, including five women and a young girl.
The Refugee Council director said UK must put an end to the “cruel, dangerous tactic of seeking to punish, push away” asylum seekers.
He said that the government should adopt fairer, more compassionate and effective solutions to the crisis.
The UK and French governments have been trading accusations following Wednesday’s tragedy in the English Channel.
The incident occurred despite UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron’s agreement over the phone on Wednesday evening to prevent migrants from making the perilous journey.
Interviewed by Sky News, former Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs and current member of the House of Lords Kate Hoey said that “France has to take great responsibility” for allowing the migrants onto the boat.
The Labour lawmaker also said that people in the UK who are speaking for the refugees “need to be more serious” about who and where they are putting responsibility.
According to official figures, more than 25,600 people, a figure that is more than triple the total for last year as a whole, have illegally crossed from France to the UK in 2021
