The current European refugee crisis, described in 2015 as ‘the worst of its kind since World War II,’  remains a controversial subject, particularly following the deaths of several refugees attempting to cross the Channel this year. Depending on your political persuasion, you may see the crisis as a humanitarian issue or conversely, an economic burden on Western countries. You only need to glance at a Daily Mail headline to see how the latter view has come to be ingrained in much of the public’s psyche. Indeed, the right wing media has long attempted to spread the nationalist idea of ‘us’ and ‘them’; that we as the United Kingdom are not responsible for those fleeing poverty, famine and war in other parts of the world, but solely responsible for our own. Worth mentioning, however, is how the same people treat their ‘own’ in need of state welfare – it seems they barely believe we are responsible for this either, but that is a story for another day. Some go even further, suggesting that apparent ‘lenient’ asylum policy towards Syrian refugees is linked to the rise of Islamic State terrorism of recent years. Language and images such as the infamous Daily Mail cartoon depicting refugees as rats are seemingly orchestrated to dehumanise refugees and undoubtedly influence an ever-increasing apathy towards those in need of our help.

Yet this is hardly just the opinion of the extreme far right. Despite the Conservative party’s manifesto pledge to grant asylum to refugees fleeing danger, Home Secretary Priti Patel has repeatedly insisted on sending back those who attempt to reach the UK illegally, declaring that what is needed is ‘a firm and fair’ system, which ‘will prosecute the criminals and protect the vulnerable.’ Meanwhile, in October of this year, a Kurdish-Iranian family of four died while trying to cross the Channel. Asylum in the UK was their last hope after fleeing ethnic persecution. This family – who had already been denied safe asylum in the UK twice previously – included two children, aged nine and six. Another child, aged fifteen months, has not been accounted for. Is this indicative of the ‘firm and fair’ system Patel insists we need? Will British people sleep more safely in their homes, knowing they are protected from these criminals, aged nine, six and fifteen months, who supposedly threaten our country’s security? 

It seems as if when events this harrowing and indefensible occur, politicians quickly U-turn from dehumanising migrants – seeing them as statistics rather than people – to treating their deaths as an individual and personal tragedy. That is to say, they attempt to depoliticise their deaths in a hope to evade responsibility for what has occurred under their watch. Patel’s statement following the incident is evidence of this, calling it ‘a tragic loss of life’ and sending ‘thoughts and prayers’ to the families of the victims. She places blame on the ‘callous criminals exploiting’ asylum seekers rather than acknowledging her government’s policies that have made it extremely difficult for asylum seekers to enter the country any other way. 

We cannot ignore the Conservative Party’s attempts to portray this tragedy as an isolated event caused by exploitative ‘criminals’ when seven people have now died trying to cross the Channel so far this year. Our country portrays itself as one of tolerance and acceptance, whilst penalising people desperate to flee danger for choosing an ‘illegal’ option. It is hard to miss the tragic irony that the blood of these migrants is on the hands of the government, who are supposed to be the ones able to offer them escape from persecution. That we should so easily let these events occur, repeatedly, and yet brand ourselves as a developed nation is disgraceful.

It is easy to get caught up in the economic cost of accepting more asylum seekers, but ultimately there should be no price on human life, especially when the Conservative government has recently been able to easily justify the price it puts on defence: £16.5 billion to be exact. This recent announcement is a disturbing reminder that we are easily in an economic position to accept more refugees, but our government seems to believe this money would be better spent maintaining the, in my opinion, ridiculous fantasy that the United Kingdom is some kind of force to be reckoned with on the world stage. Human lives like those of Anita, Armin and Artin – the children killed last month as a result of the UK’s failure to come to their aid – will always come second when a country prioritises the futile attempt to conserve its imperial image over actual humanity.

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