ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday promised to confront “vile” human traffickers smuggling migrants across the English Channel while outlining his government's approach to tackling and cracking down on illegal migration at an international conference in Glasgow.

Describing traffickers as "vile people smugglers,” at the 92nd session of the Interpol General Assembly in Glasgow on Monday, Satermer said smugglers “think human life can be trafficked, the borders can be ignored and that desperation, misery, and hope are all emotions that are right for exploitation."

Starmer noted that stopping human trafficking and illegal migration needs a "global response" on a scale "far beyond where we are now”.

"There is nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the Channel,” he added. "We need to unlock the power of that cooperation across borders, agencies, and continents even."

Thousands of migrants illegally try to cross the deadly channel every year in search of a better life in the United Kingdom, with a large number of them coming from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the Kurdish areas of Syria, Iran, and Turkey.

In the course of the past three weeks, three overloaded boats were reported sunk in the French-UK waterways, according to British coastal authorities.

Over 57 people have been reported died attempting to cross the Channel in 2024, the deadliest year on record for the Channel crossings.

As part of his government’s plan to tackle illegal migration, the British premier confirmed 75 million pounds in funds to bolster border security.

"This will support a new organized immigration crime intelligence unit, hundreds of new investigators and intelligence officers backed by state-of-the-art technology,” he said, announcing a further 58 million pounds investment in the National Crime Agency, to strengthen intelligence and data analysis.

The UK's "broken asylum system" must be reformed, he said, confirming hundreds of additional people will now work on asylum cases.

"I was elected to deliver security to the British people and our strong borders are part of that,” the British prime minister detailed. "I will work with anyone serious who can offer solutions on this… Because without coordinating global action, it will not go away.”

"And unless we bring all the powers we have to bear on this, in much the same way as we do for terrorism, then we will struggle to bring these criminals to justice.”