Calais, France – Twenty-two children died attempting to cross the UK-France border between 2024 and 2025. Today, a new report by children’s charity Project Play reveals that UK government policies and funding are directly implicated in their deaths - and in the ongoing violence faced by children still living at the border.

 

Nowhere Safe: The Impact of UK-Funded Border Violence against Children in Northern France documents sustained violence, trauma and child fatalities at the Calais-Dunkirk border, and sets out the link between the UK’s enforcement-first approach and the conditions that killed these children. Project Play, which provides play services, parental support and safeguarding casework to children aged 0–18 in informal sites near Calais and Dunkirk, has also today launched a public campaign - Stop Border Violence - calling on the UK government to establish a full statutory inquiry into its role in human rights abuses at the border.

 

To mark the launch, Project Play is holding vigils today in London, Leeds and tomorrow in Manchester to commemorate the 22 children who lost their lives. Each vigil will place one toy for every child who died. Supporters will be invited to observe a two-minute silence.

 

What the report found

In 2025, five children were killed at the border - including Agdad Hilmi, aged eight, and four unnamed teenagers. All five died as a direct result of boats becoming dangerously overcrowded, a pattern Project Play links to police operations called for and funded by the UK.

 

Police operations, including those funded under the Sandhurst Treaty, routinely involve the deployment of tear gas. Project Play documents numerous instances where children were directly targeted. Children are particularly vulnerable: tear gas canisters are typically deployed at ground level, and children’s smaller respiratory systems make the effects more severe.

 

“Meron has seen the police use teargas spray and bombs, and is very scared of the police. She asked me, ‘mama, why the police have guns? Is it to kill us?’ ”

— Asmara*, mother of Meron*, aged 4

 

“The police on the beach used tear gas against them. Yoadan*, aged 6, showed me with her hands how the gas went into her mouth, throat, chest and lungs. She said it was ‘spicy’ - and there were two babies in the group with them.”

- Kate O’Neill, Advocacy Coordinator, Project Play

 

Police ‘evictions’ from informal living sites - designed to disrupt settlement - left families without adequate shelter. Project Play found that children showed significant signs of trauma, including an inability to emotionally regulate and an entrenched fear of the police.

 

A lack of accessible safe routes to the UK placed children in violent situations. For example, six year old Musab* and one year old Leila* witnessed their father being beaten by the police until he had multiple broken ribs. He has relatives in the UK and wanted to apply for the ‘one in, one out’ scheme but his children didn’t have the correct paperwork.

 

The report also examines newly introduced policies, including authorisation for French police to intervene in the water up to 300 metres from shore - despite 65 people dying at that distance in 2024 alone. Project Play already documents boats being slashed in the water:

 

“Sameet*, aged 9, told me that the police stabbed their boat, and it broke. He said the water got in his eyes after the boat was stabbed.”

- Kate O’Neill, Project Play Advocacy Co-ordinator

 

Centrally, the report finds that families and unaccompanied children were making these crossings as a last resort - driven by the absence of safe and accessible routes to seek asylum in the UK, and a lack of information about the French asylum system.

 

“These children deserved safety. Instead, they were met with violence that was in no small part funded by the UK government. We are calling for an inquiry because accountability is essential to justice, and to ensure no more children suffer at our border.”

- Katie Hall, Project Play Advocacy Lead. 

 

Key Findings:

• The UK increased hostile policy and funding for violence at the border throughout 2025, closing safe routes to migration and encouraging dangerous prevention operations

• Children are routinely exposed to tear gas and other instances of police brutality

• Eviction operations increased in 2025, funded by the UK government. Families lose tents, phones and other vital belongings in these evictions.

 

Recommendations:

• A full and independent statutory inquiry into UK funding for border enforcement which centres the experience of those most affected, including children and families

• An immediate end to systemic violence at the border

• The creation of safe, accessible routes to seek asylum in the UK for all who need them

• A long term commitment from the UK and France to become European leaders in championing human rights and ending hostility to migration

 

Project Play has dedicated the report to the children who died at the border in 2024 and 2025.

 

** ENDS **

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CONTACT

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Lily MacTaggart, Kate O'Neill and Katie Hall - Report Authors

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>> All can be reached via info@project-play.org

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

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• Project Play provides play services, parental support and safeguarding casework to children aged 0–18 living in informal sites around Calais and Dunkirk, France. project-play.org/ 

• The Stop Border Violence campaign and full report, Nowhere Safe, is available at project-play.org/stop-border-violence

• A French parliamentary inquiry is currently investigating the impacts of bilateral UK-France border agreements. See www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/69825/immigration--les-accords-du-touquet-evalues-par-une-commission-denquete-parlementaire-francaise 

• An explanation of bilateral UK-France policy and funding of the border since 2014 can be found at commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9681/

 

*Names were changed to protect the identities of individuals