One year on, what have we learnt from the Channel tragedy where 27 died

One year ago, a dinghy carrying 34 people capsized in the English Channel. At least 27 human beings died a horrible death as a result. It was the sea’s worst-ever migrant disaster.

The tragedy shook even the most xenophobic figures in public life. When their names and life stories became public, it was obvious that those who perished did not conform to the stereotypes of criminals, bogus asylum-seeking young men from “safe” nations such as Albania and the like.

The victims were identified as Kurds, including 10 men, four women and two children; four more were Afghan men, three from Ethiopia, one Kurdish man from Iran, a Somali woman, a Vietnamese man, and one Egyptian male. We will never know how desperate their flight was or how strong their case for refugee status was because they were dead before they could plead for mercy. Never again should such people be referred to by the dehumanising term “illegals”, or spoken of as some “invasion”. Obscene.