'Efforts are paying off': 90% fewer migrants try to reach UK from Belgium

'Efforts are paying off': 90% fewer migrants try to reach UK from Belgium
Credit: Belga

People smugglers are increasingly dismissing Belgium as a transit country to the United Kingdom, as the number of migrants crossing Belgian territory on their way to the UK fell  90% over the past five years, Federal Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne announced.

Belgian police detected nearly 13,000 people making their way to the UK on the territory in 2018; in 2022 this number had fallen to just 944. The reduction was particularly noticeable in the West Flanders province.

"A clandestine crossing to the UK in a boat, container or lorry is life-threatening. People smugglers already have countless deaths on their conscience," said Van Quickenborne in a press release. "Together with the police and the Justice Department we have done everything to stop and severely punish people smuggling in recent years, and the efforts are starting to pay off."

The minister highlighted frequent police interventions, extensive international cooperation, and severe punishments for smugglers as particularly effective measures. In addition, analysis of confiscated smartphones by the newly-established TransIT team has played a part in the success.

Tougher policing, tougher prosecutions

Created in 2021 as a special branch of the Federal Justice Police, TransIT will expand operations to work closely with local police zones and make information from smartphones available to the Belgian Immigration Department. This should facilitate faster deportations of people who authorities believe are not entitled to the right of residence.

By accessing smartphones belonging to migrants and possible human smugglers, the TransIT team will provide evidence about identities and aliases, supply routes and transit houses.

Van Quickenborne stressed that human trafficking deserves continued attention. In 2022, an estimated 80,000 people tried to cross from the European mainland to the UK; many paid thousands of euros to smugglers to do so.

In West Flanders, whose coastline is the frontline for smugglers, the decrease in reports is remarkable: in and around the port of Zeebrugge, the shipping police found 404 people last year, compared to 3,926 in 2018.

A waterway police boat. Credit: Belga/Kurt Desplenter

Van Quickenborne praised the combination of extensive checks and container screening along with severe punishments for smugglers. He stressed that investigations look for the criminal gangs behind the human smuggling.

Citing the Essex drama that made headlines in 2019 when 39 people died in the back of a lorry, the Justice Minister stressed that the ringleader of the smugglers was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Convictions for entering the port also have a dissuasive effect on individuals trying to make the crossing.

Since the beginning of 2019, a total of 116 people have been convicted of organised human smuggling, including 51 for human smuggling by means of 'small boats' and 65 for human smuggling by means of trucks or containers. Prison sentences can be as high as 12 years and the fines up to €968,000.

How crossings are made

Whilst there are still cases of small boats leaving the Belgian coast towards the UK, many cases concern the transport of boats and life jackets through Belgium. These materials aren't necessarily for departure from Belgian territory but often for voyages leaving from Germany or the Netherlands, or northern France to the south.

More common was smuggling via trucks or the embarkation of migrants in the port of Zeebrugge using false identity documents. Van Quickenborne stressed that although the problem has greatly diminished in Belgium, this does not mean that it has been solved. Indeed, without strong measures, people smugglers will quickly return.

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By connecting all West Flemish police zones and making it possible for them to exchange information more closely with the Immigration Office, it should be possible to collect more evidence to support domestic and foreign investigations. "We want to make a maximum contribution to help our neighbours punish human smugglers – human smuggling is an international problem."


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