Refugee charities are urging the British government to open safe routes or risk a new wave of fatalities in the Channel.
In November 2021, twenty-seven people, including a seven-year-old boy and a pregnant woman, drowned in the worst tragedy of its kind.
Please consider supporting one of these charities if you can:
www.therefugeebuddyproject.org
www.thousand4thousand.org.uk
refugeeradio.org.uk
rnli.org
hastings.cityofsanctuary.org
“The current refugee crisis is, in fact, a global humanitarian crisis. Despite the framing by the UK media, the numbers of people seeking refuge in the UK is actually down on previous years – in the year ending September 2021, the UK received fewer applications than it did in pre-pandemic 2019. What has changed is that the routes being taken by people seeking refuge has shifted toward small boats crossing the Channel, making them far more visible to the public.
The increase in Channel crossings is a direct result of insufficient safe routes for people to seek refuge. There is no way to claim asylum in the UK from outside the UK; you cannot simply walk into an Embassy or Consulate and claim asylum, you have to be in the UK. Were the UK Government to open effective safe routes, for example to open the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme promised in September 2020, then people would not make the dangerous journey across the busiest shipping lane in the World. To quote Warsan Shire “no one would put their children in a boat unless the sea is safer than the land”.”
- Alex Kempton, Operations and Campaigns Manager, The Refugee Buddy Project.
released February 1, 2022
Lead vocals and lyrics - Oli Spleen
Additional vocals and lyrics in Russian - Polina Shepherd
Piano - Tristram Arnold
Clarinet - Merlin Shepherd
Accordion and additional backing vocals - Mishkin Fitzgerald
Bass and additional production - Garry Mitchell
Recorded and produced by Garry and Mishkin at The Nest Studios Brighton
Mastered by Robert Macciochi at Subvert Central Mastering
Cover art image “Refugees” by Cyprián Majerník.