Refugee charities demand safe UK routes as asylum seekers top agenda

WATCH: Catherine Drew is in Kent to hear the stories of asylum seekers

Refugee charities in the UK are demanding the government increase safe routes for people to apply to join family and friends in the country. 

It comes after 12 people, including children and a pregnant woman, drowned when their boat ripped apart off the coast of France, en route to Britain earlier this week.

‌The tragedy has brought the issue of small boats arriving to the fore again. It's a subject keenly watched in the Kent town of Folkestone.

Not only do most boats make their way to this county in the south east of the UK, it's also home to Napier Barracks, a defense ministry facility that houses around 400 asylum seekers. Many of these have taken dangerous journeys to the UK. 

CGTN Europe visited the facility and spoke to men from Colombia, Benin, Afghanistan, Jordan and Palestine. All of them said they were escaping dangerous situations at home, but did not want to give more than their first names.

By the beginning of September, over 21,400 people had crossed the Channel in small boats, a rise on the previous year, with 39 deaths recorded. 

On Friday, UK's Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is chairing a meeting of ministers and senior security experts as the government follows up on Prime Minister Keir Starmer's promise to smash the people smuggling gangs. Authorities have also vowed to speed up the processing of asylum applications, particularly the return of those rejected.

But charities are impatient for more action. Some of the victims of this week's tragedy were from Eritrea in East Africa; it's a journey Rishan Tsegay took 10 years ago at the age of 16. 

"It's become like a Netflix series that we always have an episode of with continuous people dying and then nothing; nothing's been sorted," she told CGTN Europe. 

Rishan, now 26, is about to start a nursing position in Canterbury after finishing her training, speaks on behalf of Kent Refugee Action Network.

"We tend to emphasize the humanitarian visa for people to seek safety in the UK. For example, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq and all these countries - they are 98 percent granted asylum in the UK. And, why is this not being presented?"

Spending time outside Napier Barracks, CGTN Europe also spoke to Mohannad. He has been at the facility for two months, having fled Rafah in Gaza after his father and brother were killed. 

He showed us videos of the current destruction of Rafah, saying there was nothing to return to. Mohannad was smuggled in a lorry from Egypt. 

So would he warn others against making that journey? Speaking through Google translate, he told CGTN Europe that, if people are suffering in war, then the UK offers security and freedom.

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday