How to make people care about migrant deaths – and prevent them from happening

We don’t know exactly how many people died, but we do know this: last year was the deadliest on record for refugees trying to cross the English Channel. While the UN estimates that 82 people – including at least 14 children – lost their lives, French frontline charities believe the fatality rate to have been significantly higher.

The fact that there is no universally accepted record of deaths at sea means that the true scale of these preventable tragedies remains hidden.

Our Labour government has rightly pledged to reduce deaths in the Channel, but how can we prevent further loss of life when we don’t even know how many lives are being lost? People are more than statistics, but right now, we don’t even have those.

This is why I’m proposing an amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which would create a duty on the Home Office to report quarterly on these deaths. Such reports would be as regular as those on immigration statistics, because every death in our asylum system must be acknowledged and learnt from.

Of course, this amendment must be just one of many steps this government takes to build an asylum and immigration system that is rooted in compassion and humanity rather than performative cruelty.

If our leaders are serious about preventing future deaths, they must create safe and legal routes for people seeking refuge, so they don’t have to risk their lives just to reach our shores.

We were right to stop the Conservatives’ Rwanda deportation scheme, but we must now go further and do everything possible to avoid more casualties at our borders. That starts with facing the truth of just how many people are dying in the Channel.

Refugees are dying in camps and hotels. They’re dying on our streets after being made homeless. And they’re dying by suicide and from infectious disease.

Freedom of information requests reveal that 2024 was the deadliest ever year in asylum accommodation, with 51 people dying while under the care of the Home Office: among them a 15-year-old boy and two babies. Many of these deaths were attributed to suicide, while others had an unknown cause or even an unknown date.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of campaigners and journalists, we know some of these people’s names and stories.

There is the teenage victim of modern slavery who took his own life while terrified of deportation. The father-of-one who died of diphtheria after being held in a government processing centre. The seven-year-old girl who was crushed to death on an overcrowded boat.

But what of those who have slipped through the cracks – who died in silence, unrecorded? The very least the state owes people who have died while seeking protection is for their deaths not to be swept under the rug, and for their humanity to be recognised and remembered. In fact, it’s not even the bare minimum.

These deaths are rising at a terrifying rate: limited data suggests that deaths have risen twelvefold since 2019 – far faster than the number of asylum claims. Reports in 2023 showed that the number of people seeking asylum who died by suicide had doubled compared to the years prior to 2020. And since these statistics only cover people who die while physically in Home Office accommodation, the true number is likely to be far higher.

Many of these deaths are preventable, and they are happening because successive Conservative governments created a system that is designed to deter and dehumanise.

Over the past decade, the scapegoating of refugees for the UK’s social and economic problems has become normalised in the media, with bad-faith debates growing increasingly inflamed and politicised. The human beings at the centre of this have been forgotten amid endless talk of “stopping the boats”. We cannot continue this legacy.

Accurate data is vital if we are to save future lives, but I want to make clear that this small change in the bill is not intended to reduce people to faceless statistics. Where it is safe to do so, the public should know the names of those who have died, so that their passing can be properly mourned.

By speaking the names of people who have died in our asylum system in parliament, I hope we can return some kindness and dignity to our discussion of refugees.

People who flee war and persecution and come to the UK have already overcome unimaginable odds. They have left behind their homes, families and identities in pursuit of something we should all have the right to: safety, a secure home, and the freedom to live without fear or persecution.

That these traumatised people are dying so close to the end of their journey is a tragedy.

We owe it to those who have lost their lives in our asylum system to understand how and why they died. We also owe it to them to act, to stop deaths like these from happening. And that starts with properly recording them.

Nadia Whittome is the Labour MP for Nottingham East

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you