Migrant and refugee crossings of English Channel increasing, despite risks

A months-long investigation by several European media partners included footage of Croatian police beating migrants trying to cross the EU border from Bosnia into Croatia. Such "pushbacks" are considered illegal.

A giant puppet representing an uprooted Syrian child named Little Amal arrives at the port of Folkestone, in the United Kingdom, as she comes to the end of a journey across Europe that began in Turkey. The 3.5 metre-tall puppet created by Handspring Puppet Company is meant to focus attention on the urgent needs of young refugees.

More than a million people are fleeing terror and violence in Burkina Faso, and their numbers are growing. Many are left to fend for themselves as they struggle to survive.

Violence has been on the rise in the country's sprawling cluster of refugee settlements, with armed gangs vying for power and kidnapping opponents.

Businesses fear a sizable reduction in output, after many migrant laborers fled due to targeted killings. Experts say that tensions are on the rise between locals and migrants over fears of a demographic transition.

Scores of migrants are stranded in the border region between Belarus, Poland and Lithuania. A refugee based in Austria has headed to Poland in hopes of finding his father and mother. Magdalena Gwozdz-Pallokat reports.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has accused Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of "unscrupulously exploiting" the migrants by sending them towards Poland.

Since August, a new British ambassador to France has been in post. Menna Rawlings has taken up the job at a time when the two countries have butted heads over various issues, from migration to Northern Ireland to fishing, while still bound together on other international issues – including the COP26 climate summit and as permanent members of the UN Security Council. Speaking to FRANCE 24 in a week when around 1,000 undocumented migrants crossed from France to England in small boats in a single day, she defended British border policy and spoke out about the ongoing disputes over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Lithuania's foreign minister has defended his country's newly-imposed state of emergency on and around its border with Belarus, amid an increasing number of irregular migrants trying to cross – and has accused the Belarusian president of orchestrating "instrumentalised migration" and participating in "trafficking". Gabrielius Landsbergis told FRANCE 24's Catherine Nicholson that Lithuanian border officials need "more legal instruments to really secure the border", which runs for approximately 700 kilometres.

In a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Belarus' president reportedly said his country is ready to negotiate with the EU on solving the crisis at the Polish border.

While some Belarusians have refused to aid the new arrivals from the Middle East, others are pitching in to help wherever they can. DW's Emma Levashkevich reports from Minsk.

The response to the tragic drownings on the English Channel has spiraled into a political spat between France and the UK, delaying proactive solutions to prevent future tragedies.