An advertising campaign warning migrants about the risks of crossing the English Channel in small boats and working illegally in the UK has been launched in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Quotes from real migrants who have attempted the journey are featured in the UK government's adverts, which are intended to counter the myths and misinformation peddled by criminal people-smuggling gangs to drum up business.
One video features the account of a man, whose face is blurred out, with text reading "the boat was too crowded" and "people disappeared into the sea" as it shows another photo of a deflated dinghy in the water. Another video showing a woman, also unidentifiable, reads "I was promised a well-paid job. Instead I was a slave".
The social media campaign follows one aimed at discouraging migrants from Vietnam and Albania from making the journey to the UK.
Border security and asylum minister Angela Eagle said the aim of the campaign is to “break the business model of these criminals and protect people from falling victim” to the smugglers. "Ruthless criminal gangs spread dangerous lies on social media to exploit people for money, and we are exposing them using the real stories of their victims," she said.
She added that too many people have died in the English Channel "at the hands of these criminals", and vowed to bring them to justice. It comes as 592 migrants made the journey across the busy shipping lane on March 2 in 11 boats - the highest number of arrivals on a single day so far this year. The total number of arrivals this year is now 2,716, according to Home Office data.
The campaign is the latest move by the Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer to fulfil its pledge to “smash the gangs” in a bid to tackle the politically charged issue of migrants crossing in small boats. Iraq's Kurdish region has increasingly become a centre of people smuggling, with many of the criminals and the migrants seeking to travel to the UK being from there, and as a result the British government has sought to take its fight to the region itself.
A deal was struck last year allowing the National Crime Agency to operate there and its officers have already taken part in an operation to arrest three suspected UK-linked people smugglers. A deal to return illegal migrants to Iraq is also on the table. The strategy also involves the employment of the same tactics used to tackle terrorism, and the establishment of a Border Security Commander, Martin Hewitt, who visited Iraq and the Kurdish region last week.
During his visit he discussed increased joint working to tackle organised immigration crime and strengthen mutual border security co-operation. “International partnerships are an essential part of our work to stop criminal gangs operating across borders to exploit vulnerable people,” he said.
“By strengthening these relationships and working closely with law enforcement partners across the world, we will bring down these gangs, break their business model, and put a stop to the misery and harm they inflict," he added. "Communications are an important part of this work, and our international campaign is sending a clear message to prospective migrants that these criminals cannot be trusted.”
