More Safe Routes For Refugees Petition
2023Kent Live launched a bid to help refugees, who were putting their lives at risk to cross the English Channel.
The petition called on the government to set up safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to help avoid “tragic loss of life” after 45,000 people risked their lives to cross the Channel in small boats last year.
The campaign was launched in response to the government’s Illegal Migration Bill.
Hedi Mehrez, race and news reporter at Reach Plc, told HoldtheFrontPage: “Asylum seekers continue to risk their lives to flee war or persecution in search of safety and protection.
“Kent Live launched this petition because we believe it is vital to provide them with safe and legal routes to enter the country.
“They have to physically be in the UK to apply for asylum but many have lost their lives trying to cross the English Channel in a dinghy. Setting up safe routes would stop asylum seekers from making dangerous crossings.”
Kent Live reported: “The journey across the Channel is treacherous and people who take it do not do so lightly. At least 27 people died after their boat sank on November 24, 2021 and more recently four people died when a small boat carrying asylum seekers capsized in freezing waters last December.”
"We are committed to compassion in our reporting around the refugee crisis unfolding on the English Channel."
Kent Live team