Watched an interview last night on TV, with the father of the little girl that had drowned when they were trying to cross to UK. So very sad. I wondered why the desperate people taking to these boats don’t want to stay in France. Why is that ?
So many reasons. They don’t speak the language in France, they have family already in UK, they have heard that the UK is better for social support, they know that the UK is less racist than France, etc etc.
And significantly that’s what the traffickers tell them to get money from them for the crossing.
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Language, family already there, expectations (not necessarily accurate) greater freedoms, ease of ‘disappearing’ as an illegal. There may well be more than this.
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More money for the traffickers definitely. They sell the historical notion that the UK is the place to be.
This poor chap it was his fourth attempt. A young lady the other day succeeded on her 31st attempt or some such unimaginable figure. Hell, four cancelled crossings for me on the Dieppe ferry would be enough to put me off the place.
One thing for sure, I would have employed that poor father without hesitation over some of the rabble sent over from the job centre…
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As I understand things the UK was not the family’s first choice to make a new life in after leaving Iraq several years ago, they had been refused asylum by various EU countries so crossing the channel in a boat was seen as the only chance to avoid being deported back to Iraq.
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It’s also a question of where they can get asylum and settle permanently (as @tim17 posted while I was writing the diatribe below).
I watched an interview with that poor man on the BBC News last night and they had been living in Sweden for some years - the child who died was born in Sweden I believe - but they had not been granted asylum and were due to be deported back to Iraq.
IIRC he had applied for asylum for them in Finland and a couple of other countries and been turned down.
So coming to the UK was probably a desperate last throw of the dice for them.
It’s easy to say “why not stay where you are” (as the UK Government repeatedly do), but it’s not as simple as that - we don’t know the full back story of these cases.
In my view, the entire reason for these poor people dying in the Channel is because the UK Government refuses to handle their asylum applications until they have actually arrived the UK - they won’t entertain applications from people who are in a “safe” third country e.g. France. Even though those people may not feel safe in France or another EU country, for whatever reason. It’s also sometimes a question of language or culture - they may speak English as a second language but not French for example.
80%-90% of people who do cross the Channel in small boats are actually granted asylum after they get to the UK - especially those from Afghanistan, Syria and Eritrea for whom the acceptance rate is 98%. (source: The Refugee Council)
Small boat crossings started in earnest in 2018 - prior to that other routes were used (such as stowing away in trucks) but tighter security has made the alternate routes more difficult.
Refugees in most cases simply cannot apply for asylum in the UK until they get there - as this article:
…explains:
While the government has opened up uncapped routes for Ukrainian citizens and British nationals (overseas) from Hong Kong, for other nationalities there is no straightforward route to enter the UK to seek refuge. The mainstream resettlement routes only admit very small numbers – 1,622 in the year ending June 2022 – and they have no formal application process.
The death of that little girl and of many others can be laid directly at the door of the UK Government. If there was a UK asylum application processing centre in Calais (for example) nobody would need to risk their life on a small boat. The French have urged the UK to do just this to mitigate the death toll, but the UK have refused.
But it serves the Tories’ purpose to be able to demonise asylum seekers - so the deaths continue.
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Why are so many countries refusing them?
Because they don’t want to deal with them - they want them to be “somebody else’s problem”.
I think several EU don’t consider parts of Iraq as 'dangerous anymore.
I’ve thought for a long time that the only way to curb the number of boats trying to cross is to have an asylum processing centre in France, would France allow this?
I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the answer I gave some moments ago, para 14 - (TL;DR) 
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I did read that Chris but I’m not sure that it really means the French would be okay with having a ‘bricks and mortar’ facility on their soil staffed by UK Border Force agents.
Well one would assume that if the French Interior Minister suggested it as a good idea, they would be amenable, n’est ce pas? 
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The politicisation of people fleeing for their lives is dreadful. Ireland is a bit swamped at the moment and one can hear, what one assumes are, Ukrainian accents all over the place. But the Government is getting on with the job, despite a tiny, tiny number of rightwing headbangers causing trouble in rural areas.
Meanwhile Irish Government may have a solution for Rishi to the (perceived and totally overblown) small boats issue, big boats. As refugees are fleeing the UK through NI to Ireland (80%+ of refugees entering Ireland are not presenting at air or sea ports) and Sunak is falsely claiming he isn’t legally obliged to take them back, the Irish Government should let refugees use the ferries from Cherbourg and Roskoff and bus 'em up to the border so they can cross over. That’d keep Border Force busy 
when they’re not on strike.
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Love it 
They are called Embassies, most countries have them.
Historically Man has dealt with over population in the same way, so war no3 should clear somebof the problem.
Technically, they already do at both Calais and Gare du Nord, plus they have joint UK/French teams around Calais.
Thank you. Answered some of my questions and very clearly explained.
the child who died was born in Sweden I believe
Should have fled to Ireland for the birth, then the daughter would have been Irish, or have they closed that loophole now?
I think being born on the island of Ireland still qualifies you for citizenship.
I assume they thought that Sweden would eventually accept them - they used to have generous asylum laws but have tightened them in recent years.
The problem with the UK is that the Government are not prioritising processing asylum applications - so people are left in limbo for years even after they have managed to get to British shores.