UK launches ad campaign to dissuade Iraqi Kurds from migrating
Refugee groups have suggested that a British government advertising campaign targeting the Kurdish region of Iraq, warning residents not to attempt to travel to the UK to seek asylum, will be ineffective.
The online campaign, issued by the Home Office in the Sorani Kurdish dialect, aims to deter people from attempting to cross the sea from France to the UK, a dangerous route that 36,816 people took in 2024, with 69 losing their lives in the process.
More than 2,000 of those attempting the crossing came from Iraq.
The ads highlight the dangers posed by the crossing, quoting some of those who attempted the journey warning that "people disappeared into the sea" and that the transport was too crowded.
One woman in a video, her identity obscured, says she was "was promised a well-paid job - instead I was a slave".
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"Immigrants tell you illegal immigration to the UK is a risk-free and easy task and can provide you a happy life here," reads one of the ads. "But this statement is far from the truth."
Immigration has been a hot issue in the UK in recent years, with the frequent asylum-seeker crossings across the English Channel sparking a panic about "illegal" entry into the country.
On 2 March alone, 592 migrants made the journey across the busy shipping lane in 11 boats, the highest number on a single day so far this year.
Ari Jalal, director of the Summit Foundation for Refugee and Displaced Affairs NGO, told Middle East Eye that the ad campaign would be ineffective as Iraqi Kurds naturally "do not listen" to government-backed initiatives.
"The reason for the increase in illegal migration of Kurdish and Iraqi citizens is due to continuous crises that faced the country in the past years and the lack of job opportunities in the public and private sectors, especially for young graduates of universities and colleges," he said.
"Overall, not having a clear future politically for Kurdistan and Iraq created worries and uncertainty for the people and [they] fear chaos and war again in the area."
Iraqi migration
Iraq's Kurdistan region has been a prominent source of migration to the UK and Europe as a whole in recent years.
The semi-autonomous region has suffered from severe problems around unemployment, corruption and the non-payment of wages. People have also fled the country following threats by armed groups and repression by the ruling Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Over the past few years, a number of travel agencies in Kurdistan have advertised travel to the borders of Europe, from where people can pay thousands of dollars to smugglers to cross to Western Europe.
Jalal said many Kurds chose the UK as a destination due to the country's perception as an "independent" country outside the free travel zone of the European Union.
"Also, there is much more illegal employment and opportunities than in European countries - there is much more room for rejected asylum seekers to hide and not face the law," he said.
In November, the UK and Iraq signed what they called a "world-first" security agreement to crack down on smuggling and strengthen border security.
The Home Office said that around £300,000 ($390,000) from the UK Integrated Security Fund would be spent on training at the border to counter organised immigration crime and drug trafficking.
UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the agreement would help tackle the "evil trade in human lives".
"There are smuggler gangs profiting from dangerous small boat crossings whose operations stretch back through northern France, Germany, across Europe, to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and beyond," said Cooper.
"Organised criminals operate across borders, so law enforcement needs to operate across borders too."
Rights groups and refugee campaigners in the UK have criticised policies brought in by successive governments that have restricted the ability of asylum seekers to travel to the country through safe and legal means.
New guidance issued by the Labour government last month said that anyone who enters the UK illegally having made a dangerous journey would normally be refused citizenship.
This led some commentators to suggest the UK could be in violation of its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said: “No one puts themselves, or their family at risk on a small boat over the Channel unless they are fleeing dangers more acute than what they face on these perilous journeys.
“The most effective way to break the smuggling gangs’ grip is to stop refugees from getting into the boats in the first place, which means giving them a legal way to apply for asylum in the UK without crossing the Channel."
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