The plight of people who arrive in the UK in refrigerated lorries, or rubber dinghies, or between wheel caps, rarely makes the news. But last week, the discovery of 39 dead people in a container lorry in Essex was a story that made headlines across the world. While their individual stories remain unknown, we can be certain that they have left behind families and friends, who even now may not know the fate of their loved ones.

The deaths of these 39 victims lay bare the perilous dangers facing those who travel to the UK via dangerous routes. I do not know why these 39 people were in that lorry. I do not know if they had climbed inside hoping to reach a place of safety, in this country or elsewhere, or whether they were forced into that journey against their will.

But I do know that many, many people hoping for sanctuary here undertake a similar route. With no safe and legal passage to the UK, they feel there is no other choice but to step into a refrigerated vehicle, let the door lock behind them and hope that they arrive safely at the other end.

With some very limited exceptions, the only way a person can claim asylum here is if they are already on UK territory. Unless an individual has the means to enter the UK on a visa and then make a claim, they are stuck. Smugglers and traffickers prey on people who have no hope, promising them safe passage in return for small fortunes. But it is the failure of the UK to offer a safe alternative that helps these smugglers to operate.

Organisations such as Safe Passage work with unaccompanied children who have a legal right to resettle in the UK. The challenge is to persuade these young people to accept long delays of many months or longer rather than giving up hope and risking their lives on lorries or dinghies.

The conditions in the Calais area and on the Greek islands are so appalling that it is easy for children to give up hope of a legal route to enable them to join their families in the UK. Smugglers are helped by the behaviour of the British and other governments and can offer what sounds like a quick route to a better life. The best way to deal with the smugglers is for the government to cut out the long delays and give these young people a quicker and legal route to safety.

On Saturday, Refugee Rights Europe launched a report detailing the horrendous circumstances facing around 300 unaccompanied children in northern France, including exceptionally young children aged seven, nine and 12. According to the report, charities detail numerous accounts of women and girls being forced to perform sexual acts in exchange for a route to the UK. In 2018 more than 120 unaccompanied children went missing in this country after being trafficked from France.

RRE’s report makes clear what those working with unaccompanied children know only too well: when a child does not have a safe route to the UK, they do not give up on their dream of safety. Instead they are forced into horrendous situations and potentially deadly journeys in their desperation to reach sanctuary.

Even more tragically, if this government treated this situation with the urgency it so badly needs, many of these children would have been able to travel to the UK safely. Those with family in the UK are some of the few people that should be able to access a legal route to claim asylum, under the family reunion provisions of the EU Dublin III Regulation.

But instead of doing everything it can to transfer these children and keep them out of the hands of smugglers, the Home Office often takes months if not years to decide whether to accept their claim.

Worse, there have been no guarantees from the government that family reunion will continue regardless of what happens with Brexit. We are facing the closure of one of the few safe and legal routes to sanctuary that this country currently offers.

The situation is bleaker still for the children that don’t have family ties to the UK. The “Dubs scheme” was established following an amendment I worked on with the support of MPs of all parties in 2016. We hoped it would offer legal routes to safety for up to 3,000 children, but it was capped by the government at 480 places. This scheme could represent a lifeline to children currently in France, Greece or elsewhere in Europe – if only the government could be persuaded to take action.

I believe that people in the UK recognise that we cannot turn our backs on those seeking sanctuary. And I am convinced that offering safe and legal routes must be at the heart of any efforts to tackle the smuggling and trafficking that exploits those who are vulnerable and have no hope.

This week, I joined the charity Safe Passage International to deliver a petition signed by 80,000 people, demanding that the home secretary keeps family reunion open for children in Europe, whatever happens with Brexit.

The petition remains open and I hope it will continue to gather signatures, showing this government that people in Britain are ready to welcome child refugees. Safe Passage are also calling on the government to include unaccompanied child refugees from Europe in its new global resettlement scheme, due to begin next year.

I urge the Home Office and the wider government to learn lessons from this week. I hope they will remember the horrendous deaths of 39 people in a container and many thousands of others who perish each year on dangerous journeys to the UK and across the world.

And I hope this government will act now, to make sure unaccompanied children have a legal route to this country that saves them the same fate.