Reflection on tragic deaths in English Channel

Children sleeping rough in Calais

Fr Philip Dyer-Perry, Parish Priest at Our Lady of the Rosary parish, Staines, writes in a message to parishioners this week:

I really don't know where to start when it comes to this week's tragic deaths in the English Channel. We are rightly appalled at the plight of those seeking to enter the USA and Poland, at the cruel ways in which these vulnerable people are exploited, and the inhuman indifference shown to their humanity by those in authority who ought to know better. Yet are we in the UK any less irresponsible?

A government can only be as good as those who permit it to exist - and if the popular demand is to secure our precious borders, rather than to protect fellow human beings, then the future is not promising. Issues of migration and border control have their place, but the real crisis on the Straits of Dover is that this issue has trumped the most important consideration of all - our duty towards our fellow human beings.

It's time that the narrative around migration to the UK is changed dramatically. The classic fictions about immigrants 'flooding' the UK and taking 'our' jobs is simply untrue - as is our characterisation of 'economic migrants' as some sort of drain on our society. This isn't a left- or right-wing issue, but a question of respecting all human life, supporting families, and giving everyone an opportunity to reach their potential where they are best placed to grow.

If we want to see things change, it begins first with each of us. Perhaps the events of this week will prove to be our turning point.

Fr Philip