31 people drowned when a boatload of asylum seekers capsized in the English Channel this week. The international community all of a sudden became aware of a crisis on the beaches near Calais in France. People smugglers are loading migrants, looking for a better life, onto inflatable dinghies and sending them to Britain.

Steve Cannane is the ABC’s European correspondent. He’s met some of the migrants looking and hoping for asylum. He says they’re desperate to get to Great Britain...and with what’s happening in Afghanistan, things are going to get worse before they get better.

So, what can be done about stopping the boats. It’s a problem Australia faced just a few years ago. It’s now emerging as a major international crisis as tens of thousands of asylum seekers gather on French beaches, desperate to try to cross the English Channel before winter sets in.

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UK offers to send forces to patrol French coast following migrant deaths

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Behind The English Channel Tragedy