‘It could have been me’: refugees describe their journeys to the UK

Other refugees who feared they would die in lorries spoke to the Guardian about their experiences. “I was in Calais for five months. Nearly every day I tried to get into a lorry to reach the UK,” said Adam, 45, who was forced to flee Sudan because of his political activities against the government.

“The French police were always catching us and beating us. When I did finally succeed in getting into the lorry I had to hide inside for more than 15 hours with no food or water … I am so, so sad to hear about the people who died. I know it could have been me. But for us the UK means safety.

“If I had to run for my life once more, and had to risk hiding in a lorry, I would do the same thing again. People will do anything if they think it will save their life. Sadly for the people who were found dead in Essex their hope to reach safety did not work.”

Mohammed, 22, fled Iran by smuggling himself inside a lorry carrying syringes and medicines. “I hid underneath all the medicines but I was frightened every minute that the lorry driver or the police would catch me,” he said.

“Although I was terrified about trying to get into a lorry I felt I had no choice. I was in Calais for one month and 10 days and every night I tried to get into a lorry. So many times the French police caught me and beat me and stopped me from travelling to the UK. I travelled just in the clothes I was wearing and took nothing else with me.

“I felt so weak when I finally arrived in the UK that I collapsed when I got out of the lorry at last. I had not eaten or drunk anything for a long time. As long as this government makes it difficult for people to reach the UK safely they will continue to take the risks I took and the people who died in the lorry took.”

Lawyers and human rights campaigners have called for an overhaul of immigration laws in the wake of the tragedy, saying the smugglers are a symptom rather than the cause of Europe’s tough migration policies.

Giulia Tranchina, an immigration solicitor at Wilsons, said: “There are reports that the lorry came from Bulgaria. Many of my clients have been imprisoned and tortured in Bulgaria, a place the UK tries to remove some asylum seekers to. People are looking for a safe place to go to – they are tortured in the Balkans, beaten up by neo-Nazis in Italy, Greece and Austria, and sometimes turned away when they try to claim asylum in France.

“We are not asking ‘What did people suffer before they got into the lorry?’ For many of my clients who got a place in a lorry and reached safety in the UK it was the smugglers who saved their lives. We are talking about the criminality of the smugglers but it is the immigration policies of the European countries which are criminal.”

Tranchina said one 16-year-old client who made it to the UK with great difficulty on a lorry collapsed when he arrived in Dover. “He had to hide in the lorry in such a dangerous way,” she said. “What we need is safe, legal routes to Europe.”

Ahmed, 28, fled compulsory military service in Eritrea and spent eight months in France trying to get into a lorry to reach the UK. “I knew it was dangerous to try to get into a lorry and I knew I might die trying but it didn’t stop me,” he said.

Ahmed finally managed to get into a lorry piled high with potatoes along with two friends. He wasn’t sure if he had arrived in the UK until the lorry stopped in Bedford and he and his friends got out and saw the road signs.

“I’m very happy to be in the UK. I’m studying and I have a future but I’m so sad and sorry for all the people who have died. They probably were all hoping they would have a future in the UK too.”

The UK has the highest death toll for migrants entering the country on lorries of any country in Europe, even excluding the latest tragedy, according to a database of deaths collated by the NGO United for Intercultural Action. Since 2000, the database has recorded 73 deaths of migrants entering the UK on trucks or lorries.

While 58 deaths were recorded when Chinese migrants were found suffocated on a lorry in Dover in 2000, records show there were at least 15 other fatal incidents in the following years involving migrants from Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, India and Vietnam.

The UK accounted for more than a third of lorry-related deaths across all countries during this time period, according to the United data. France recorded the second-highest number of deaths, with 42 migrants dying in trucks or lorries.

Annette Elder, an immigration solicitor at Elder Rahimi, said she was angry about the failure to join the dots. “I’m just back from three weeks on [the Greek island of] Lesbos. The situation there is worse than it has ever been, unimaginably horrific. People don’t put their small children in overcrowded boats if they have any choice, they don’t tie plastic water bottles around their waists to swim the Channel or climb into container lorries of agents they cannot be sure that they can trust if they have any other options.

“When people’s lives are made unlivable and their children have no future, often due to years of wars that they did not start, if they can, they will move.

“Politicians express regret for the deaths and at the same time act to reduce family reunification rights and fail to act to fulfil even the limited legal obligations that are accepted. The UK could be taking the lead in promoting robust burden sharing and swift effective family reunification polices within the UK and Europe.”

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Source- https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/24/it-could-have-been-me-refugees-describe-their-journeys-to-the-uk