The phenomenon of small boatsemerged from 2018, after efforts on the French side to secure the Channel Tunnel were such that they blocked almost any possibility for migrants to board trucks. And, obviously, the trafficking networks have entered this niche of small boats, extremely profitable, by exploiting the distress of the people. For NGOs on the British side, the passages are not necessarily much larger (in number) than a few years ago (around 26,000 successful crossings since the start of 2021), but they are clearly more visible (almost all boats arrive between Dover and Dungeness, and far-right activists, starting with Nigel Farage, are filming these arrivals), which makes the issue more politically acute for Boris Johnson.
“This drama is unprecedented because it is the first time that so many people have drowned in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais”
