Hard borders are directly to blame for the deaths of 170 migrants at sea – and European leaders know it

It is no coincidence that though the number of people actually entering Europe through the Mediterranean is decreasing, the proportion of people dying is skyrocketing

On 14 October 1914, 16,000 Belgian refugees arrived in Folkestone. As early as August, just weeks after the start of the First World War, the Folkestone War Refugees Committee was created, with several national newspapers running a Belgian relief fund.

It is estimated that 100,000 Belgians passed through Folkestone, fleeing advancing German troops. Each person who arrived was examined by a doctor and given food. Those that could rented rooms in the hotels, those who did not have the means were put up by people in the town who had opened their homes to those in need.

In July 1915, the town of Folkestone celebrated “Belgium Day” to coincide with a national holiday in Belgium. Some of the 15,000 Belgian residents of the town sold flags, which hung over the council buildings.

Britain and Europe more widely are far from ignorant to the fires of war. We have felt the heat, seen the scorch marks roll out across our lands, watched millions flee its deathly clutches. As a reaction to the devastation of it, international declarations of intent were set out, political and economic unions were formed – determined to ensure that it would never happen again.

In the UK, we have statues and monuments erected to those wars, and to the migration they necessitated – be that in the form of those fleeing the horror, or those whom we asked to come here to help us rebuild our country.

It is within this context that the latest deaths in the Mediterranean must be viewed. On Friday, more than 170 people died in two separate incidents as they attempted to cross the sea in search of refuge and safety.

According to the Missing Migrants Project, these deaths come on top of 83 people who have already died making the journey this year – meaning this January is the deadliest in the Mediterranean since the migrant crisis began to bite, with 10 days of the month still to go.

It is, however, no coincidence that, though the number of people actually entering Europe through the Mediterranean is decreasing, the proportion of people dying is skyrocketing.

In 2015, one in every 270 people attempting to reach the EU died crossing the Mediterranean, with 3,770 people perishing. Between January and June last year that proportion increased to one in 18, with 1,600 dying on the journey.

The EU has committed to increasing spending on border controls to €34.9bn (£30.9bn) in 2021-27, with Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, promising 10,000 more border guards for Frontex, the European border and coastguard agency.

There can be no mistake made, the blame for the spiralling death rates in the Mediterranean lies at the doors of leaders across Europe. The deaths are the logical conclusion of collective foreign policies that saw a rescue boat with 32 people on board, some in desperate need of medical attention, refused entry to ports for over two weeks in the middle of winter.

Just this morning, Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini insisted that Italian ports will remain closed as it “saves lives”, having previously refused to back an EU deal to help those left adrift on rescue ships.

This Christmas, 100 people crossed the channel in search of sanctuary. Most made the perilous journey across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes in dinghies, with at least two reaching British shores in a rowing boat. In reaction, home secretary Sajid Javid deployed the navy to the area, before disseminating what were, in my view false and damaging assertions about the asylum process and our international obligations surrounding it – partly, he suggested, in an effort to save lives.

It is beyond doubt that hardening our borders kills. What’s more, the building of our walls (physical and metaphorical) ever higher is tantamount to a deliberate attempt to flout and ignore our collective obligations to international treaties we drew up in the aftermath of our own humanitarian crises.

Our immigration policy does not work. It leads to misery and death. As the effects of instability and war continue to force people to flee for their safety, another impending crisis, in the shape of catastrophic climate change, waits just around the corner, ready to make huge swathes of our planet uninhabitable.

It is time for us to recognise the hand we have had in creating these disasters, but more than that, it is time to put compassion back at the centre of the debate. To recognise those fleeing as humans, in desperate need of help – help we are able, and should be willing, to give.