UK: UK signs agreements with Western Balkans countries to tackle people smuggling ― Officials express doubts about government’s ‘smash the gangs’ policy ― Asylum applicants stranded on Diego Garcia finally allowed to enter UK

• The UK has signed agreements with Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia as part of its efforts to tackle people-smuggling gangs.
• Officials have cast doubts over the government’s efforts to dismantle the people-smuggling gangs that are responsible for many of the small boat crossings in the Channel.
• A group asylum applicants who have been stranded on the remote Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia for more than three years have finally been given permission to travel to the UK.

The UK has signed agreements with three Western Balkans countries as part of its efforts to tackle people-smuggling gangs. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the agreements, which are aimed at increasing intelligence sharing, expertise and co-operation with Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia, during the meeting of the European Political Community which took place on 7 November in Budapest. According to a government press release, almost 100,000 people transited through the Western Balkans in 2023, making it “a key route used by those who end up in the EU or the UK illegally”. The UK already has similar agreements with a number of other countries, including Albania and Türkiye. “Backed by our new Border Security Command, the UK will be at the heart of efforts to end the scourge of organised immigration crime – but we cannot do it in isolation,” Starmer said, adding: “We need to go further and faster, alongside our international partners, and take the fight directly to the heart of these vile people-smuggling networks”. Home Secretary (Minister of the Interior) Yvette Cooper added: “Our work with our partners in the Western Balkans is absolutely key to dismantling the criminal networks that orchestrate the exploitation of vulnerable people for financial gain”.

Despite the announcement of the agreements with the Western Balkans countries, officials have cast doubts over the government’s efforts to dismantle the people-smuggling gangs that are responsible for many of the small boat crossings in the Channel. According to the i newspaper, a number of civil servants working in the Home Office (Ministry of the Interior) are doubtful that the plan to “smash the gangs” will be effective in reducing the number of irregular arrivals in the UK. “It will not bring the crossings down – the smugglers will adapt and circumvent anything they put in place,” said one unnamed Home Office civil servant, adding: “The only way to cut illegal immigration is a combination of safe and legal routes and a change in foreign policy”. Commenting on the new Border Security Command (BSC), for which the government recently announced an additional £ 75 million of funding, another civil servant said: “Nobody quite knows how it’s going to work”. They also said that there was “cynicism” that the BSC would be any more effective than two units that were set up under the previous government.

In addition to the concerns expressed by the two civil servants, Dr Peter Walsh from the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory has warned about the “displacement” effect of the government focusing its efforts on trying to prevent irregular Channel crossings. He noted that previous efforts to prevent people from boarding lorries destined for the UK in northern France had “had the unintended consequence of supercharging small boats”. The deadly effects of this displacement, which was reinforced by the French authorities’ “repressive tactics”, were described by Célestin Pichaud from the humanitarian NGO Utopia 56. “There are fewer boats on the French coast but the same number of people crossing,” he said, adding: “This [policy] will have harmful consequences, there will be more deaths”. In an opinion piece for the Guardian newspaper, the head of ECRE member organisation the Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, wrote that the new government seemed to be “replacing its predecessor’s ‘stop the boats’ slogan with ‘smash the gangs’”. He also repeated calls for an alternative approach. “There also need to be protected routes so that refugees don’t have to make dangerous journeys. One option would be to trial refugee visas, so that people can get on a plane, train or ferry to reach the UK and apply for asylum. Another approach would be to enable people to apply for refugee protection closer to their home countries,” he wrote.

The ongoing discussions about the government’s plans to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel are taking place against the backdrop of continued high numbers of rescues and deaths. On 9 November, nine boats carrying 572 people were intercepted. The latest arrivals have brought the total number of people who have made the crossing in 2024 to 32,691. This represents a 22% increase on the equivalent period in 2023 (26,699) but an 18% decrease from 2021 (39,929). In addition, four people died trying to cross the Channel in the previous week bringing the total number of deaths in 2024 to at least 60, five times higher than in 2023.

The debate about the government’s “smash the gangs” policy is also taking place against the backdrop of the convictions of 18 members of a people-smuggling network in France. On 5 November, a court in Lille issued a 15-year prison sentence for the presumed leader of the network, which had “great control” over small boat crossings from France to the UK between 2020 and 2022. The other 17 accused received sentences ranging from one to 12 years. During the trial, the prosecutor described the defendants as “merchants of death” who were responsible for boats being loaded “up to 15 times their theoretical capacity”. Commenting on the case, the deputy director of the UK’s National Crime Agency, Craig Tuner, said that the network was “among the most prolific we have come across”.

Elsewhere, a group asylum applicants who have been stranded on the remote Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia for more than three years have finally been given permission to travel to the UK. The 60 people have been stuck on the island since October 2021 when they were rescued as they tried to sail from Sri Lanka to Canada in order to claim asylum. On 4 November, lawyers informed the high court that the UK government had dropped its opposition to the group’s case and that “all families, children and those of the unaccompanied males who do not have criminal convictions, outstanding charges or investigations would be offered the opportunity to be transferred to the UK”. The fate of three of the people who have criminal convictions remains unclear. Commenting on the development, Simon Robinson from Duncan Lewis solicitors, who had been representing some of the people, said: “The change in the UK government’s position is a very welcome step. We are delighted”. “After three years living in inhumane conditions, having to fight various injustices in court on numerous occasions, the UK government has now decided that our clients should now come directly to the UK,” he added. In a statement, Tom Short from Leigh Day solicitors, which also represented some members of the group, said: “Our clients, including 16 children, welcome the Home Secretary’s belated decision to offer them safety in the UK, which was only made after our clients issued legal proceedings in the high court,” adding: “Our clients fled Sri Lanka seeking refuge from persecution. The treatment and unlawful detention they have endured at the hands of the British Indian Ocean Territory Administration for the past three years is disgraceful”. “Today’s decision is an enormous relief to our clients and we urge the Home Secretary to close the camp and bring our clients here without any further delay so that they can begin their recovery,” he concluded.

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