Why Britain is making a bad situation even worse

John Morrison, author of the UN's first study into human trafficking in Europe, argues against crackdowns Since the tragedy of the Dover docks, there has rightly been a flurry of international media attention asking why migrants would take such risks when attempting to enter Britain. Home Secretary Jack Straw's instincts tell him that the 58 dead bodies are evidence that we must crack down still harder on illegal migration. However, a level-headed analysis of the available data shows that our present enforcement-only response will not only fail, but will make a bad situation worse for everyone.

There are several key facts that have been ignored by many of those that wish to draw generalisations from the tragic Chinese case. The first is that, while there is undoubted evidence of snakehead syndicate involvement in the trafficking of Chinese nationals, they do not represent the most significant nationality attempting illegal entry. Home Office figures show that more Yugoslav, Sri Lankan and Iraqi nationals are intercepted attempting to enter the UK than Chinese. Secondly, a much higher percentage of these other nationals go on to claim (and receive) asylum in the UK than do Chinese nationals.

There is a very strong correlation between the nationalities that use traffickers and those that gain asylum somewhere in the European Union. For many nationalities, the majority of those trafficked have a justifiable claim to asylum, even under the strict recognition rates of most countries. Yet for these nationalities, there is no legal possibility of asylum-seekers reaching Britain; there is no such thing as a refugee visa and no ongoing programme for refugee resettlement, and embassies abroad will not grant a tourist or business visa to anyone they believe might claim asylum. Visa and transit visa requirements are imposed immediately on any country which starts to generate refugees.

The rising number of asylum claims in Britain obscures another truth: that the total number of asylum claims in the EU has actually declined since the early 1990s. In 1992, when Germany received more asylum claims than the rest of the EU put together, Britain and France blocked attempts by other EU members to agree a responsibility- sharing mechanism by which asylum-seekers could be fairly allocated between EU countries. Now, when Britain receives almost as many asylum claims as Germany, we have become victims of our own lack of foresight and European solidarity.

It is undeniable that the domestic policies of EU member states have pushed many refugees into the hands of traffickers. Carriers Liability legislation, first introduced into Europe by Britain in 1987, has been followed by readmission treaties, airline liaison officers and passenger profiling. The combined effect of these measures has been to dramatically decrease the possibility of deceptive migration (passing through regular migration channels with forged documents) and increase the demand for clandestine migration (avoiding regular migration checks by concealment within containers etc). This increase is confirmed by the Home Office's own figures.

Any comprehensive approach to eliminating trafficking must happen at the European level. It is inconceivable that Europe can isolate itself from the realities of globalisation, and so the sooner one of our leaders has the courage to discuss quotas for social and economic migrants as well as refugees, the better it is for us all.

John Morrison has written two reports on the issue of refugees and trafficking. The Cost of Survival is available from the British Refugee Council in London; the second will soon be published by the UNHCR in Geneva. John is now Human Rights Manager for The Body Shop International

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