ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Around 37,000 migrants on small boats made the perilous journey across the English Channel to the United Kingdom in 2024, marking a 25 percent increase from the previous year, despite British authorities' vow to “smash the gangs” smuggling people into the country.

A total of 36, 816 people reached the UK through the channel last year, a significant rise from 2023’s 29,437, according to data published by the British Home Office.

At least 57 people reportedly died while attempting to cross the Channel in 2024, the deadliest year on record for the Channel crossings, according to the UN migration agency (IOM).

The UK saw a record number of 45,774 irregular migrant arrivals crossing the Channel into the country in 2022.

Since taking office as the prime minister in July, Keir Starmer has pledged on multiple occasions to crack down on irregular arrivals. He has signed a number of agreements with other countries in an effort to stem the flow of migrant arrivals in the UK, including Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

In late November, the British government announced reaching a “world-first” security agreement with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, aimed at combating irregular migration and other border security concerns, after a three-day trip to Baghdad and Erbil by UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

During her trip, Copper signed a landmark joint statement on border security with Iraq’s interior minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari, which “sets out the commitments of both countries to work more closely in tackling people smuggling and bolster border security,” according to a statement from the UK Home Office.

Thousands of migrants illegally try to cross the deadly channel every year in search of a better life in the UK and Europe, with a large number of them coming from the Kurdistan Region.

The statement added that London and Baghdad agreed to launch communication campaigns in both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, seeking to “counter disinformation spread by criminal gangs and stop people making the dangerous journey, including telling the real stories of people who have fallen victim to people smuggling gangs.”

Starmer in early November vowed that his government would confront “vile” human traffickers smuggling migrants across the English Channel, stressing the need for a “global response” to the crucial issue.

The British premier also overturned the previous government's controversial scheme to send migrants to Rwanda.