A Neglected & Misunderstood Humanitarian Crisis

The International Organisation for Migration has unveiled data that, set against the background of the prior years, requires alarms to be raised and for humanity to prevail

Photo By Alex Vasey On Unsplash

A “Wake up Call”

That is what the UN´s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Missing Migrants Project would term the record number of children who died in the Channel in 2024.

This consisted of 82 fatalities, of whom, at least, 14 were children.

A record in and of itself.

However, it should be noted that officials consider the aforementioned figures to be an undercount of the genuine picture.

Time Tells All

The death tally has more than tripled to 82 deaths from the 2023 total of 24, in addition to 2023 only pertaining to one documented child fatality.

In the Channel, the child death numbers varied from one to five a year between 2018 and 2024.

Although, of the 5 deaths noted thus far in 2025, none of them have been children.

So alarming is the situation, that other actors have weighed in on it.

At the conclusion of last year, António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, propagated substantive steps to minimise the risk of migrants going missing or dying.

These steps entail, among other items, improved data collection of those missing and access to humanitarian assistance for those parties in distress.

Concern has been voiced by IOM officials that, even if children survive such treacherous journeys, they may end up separated from their parents with there being minimal support at best accessible for them to reconnect with their guardians..

While all those children who perished have not been named, certain identities have been published and those include Mohamed Al Jbawi, 16, and Obada Abd Rabbo, 14, who passed away in the same incident, on the 14th of January.

From Iraq, Rola Al Mayali, seven years old, died when the boat she was occupying with her family capsized in a canal they were journeying along, in the hopes of arriving at the Channel.

Other cases saw another Iraqi seven-year-old, Sara Al Ashimi, die on the 23rd of April, and an Iraqi Kurd, Maryam Bahez, only one month of age pass away after slipping out of her father’s grasp, on the 17th of October, in an overloaded boat.

Awareness & Empathy

The UK-based IOM´s Chief of Mission, Christa Rottensteiner, stated;

“The record high number of children who died in the English Channel last year is a wake-up call that more needs to be done. For those whose nationality is known, you can see that they are from wartorn countries or extremely volatile contexts. More safe and regular routes are urgently needed, and the right support need to be in place for separated children looking for their families.”

Moreover, Safe Passage International´s Chief Executive, Dr Wanda Wyporska, stated that

“Crossing the Channel in these small and overcrowded boats is a terrifying experience no child should have to go through… Young people we support have shared heartbreaking descriptions with us. They thought they were going to die, have been hospitalised with painful petrol burns from broken engines, and were petrified of falling into the water as they couldn’t swim. We know children are often deeply traumatised from this journey, and it can take a long time for them to be able to talk about their frightening ordeal in these boats. It’s horrifying so many children have died on this unnecessary journey. This is a clear consequence of the lack of safe routes which would save children’s lives.”

Both actors perfectly capture both, the empathetic frame of mind and practice that needs to be applied, along with the urgent nature of the issue.

As such, nations across the globe need to switch from treating this as a security issue to a humanitarian one.

Compassion and understanding aren´t hollow words if incorporated into every facet of the process.

A helping hand in someone’s worst moment can save lives.