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Calais Jungle

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The Port of Calais, through which the migrants attempt to reach the U.K.

The Calais jungle is the nickname given to a migrant encampment in the vicinity of Calais, France, where migrants live while they attempt to enter the United Kingdom.

The migrants, who frequently stow away on lorries, ferries, cars, or trains travelling through the Port of Calais or the Eurotunnel terminus, are a mixture of refugees[citation needed], asylum seekers and economic migrants.

Location and conditions

Tents of the Calais jungle on 8 November 2015

The "jungle" has no fixed location, with migrants setting up camp on unoccupied land and moving to new locations when camps are closed down by the French authorities, while others illegally occupy abandoned buildings. In April 2015, The Guardian reported that the "official" and principal "jungle" in Calais was located at a former landfill site, three miles from the centre of town, and occupied by 1,000 of the 6,000 migrants in Calais. According to the paper, it was one of nine camps then existing in Calais. This jungle for the first time had showers, electricity and toilets, plus one hot meal served per day, but without proper accommodation.[1]

Conditions in the other camps are poor, typically without proper sanitary or washing facilities and accommodation consisting of tents and improvised shelters. Food is supplied by charity soup kitchens. The French authorities have faced a dilemma of addressing humanitarian needs without attracting additional migrants.[2]

The jungle is located in a Seveso zone (regulated by Directive 82/501/EC).[3] To solve this issue, government action is guided by the Treaty of Touquet of 4 February 2003, signed by former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, committing to halt illegal immigration to the UK via Calais.[4]

History

A Red Cross reception centre named Sangatte was opened near the Port of Calais in 1999 but rapidly became overcrowded.[5] The original "jungle" was established in the woods around the Port after Sangatte was closed in November 2002 by Sarkozy, then French Minister of the Interior.[2][6] There were riots in 2001 and 2002, the year Sangatte closed.[5]

In an April 2009 raid on a migrant camp, the French authorities arrested 190 and used bulldozers to destroy tents, but by July 2009 a new camp had been established which the BBC estimated had 800 inhabitants.[2] In a dawn raid in September 2009, the French authorities closed down a camp occupied by 700–800 migrants and detained 276 people, mainly Afghans.[7][8]

The current mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, threatened in September 2014 to block the port because, although it was an illegal action and would bring down upon her lawsuits and opprobrium, she thought it would send a "strong message" to the UK authorities.[5] Also in September 2014, The Guardian estimated that there were 1,300 migrants in Calais, mostly from Eritrea, Somalia and Syria,[5] and in July 2015, The Telegraph reported that the current jungle had 3,000 inhabitants.[9] As of November 2015, there are an estimated 6,000 migrants living in the jungle.[10]

Migrants

Migrants in Calais

Most migrants arrive from newly troubled areas. The migrants in Calais are mostly young men, with about 62% of the population being men with a mean age of 33, of non-European origin.[11] The mix of nationalities has changed over time, with Afghans being the largest group initially, but by 2014 more people were from the Horn of Africa and Sudan.[12] Most of them do not speak the French language,[13] and are attempting to enter the British labour market to work illegally rather than claim asylum in France,[2][5] although the number claiming asylum has risen since the procedures were revised in 2014.[1]

Many migrants have paid smugglers to get them to Calais:[2] one migrant from Egypt, a politics graduate, told The Guardian that he "paid $3,000 to leave Egypt, risked my life on a boat to Italy spending days at sea" and that in one month he had tried 20 times to reach England; another, an Eritrean woman with a one-year-old child, had paid £1,825 - and her husband the same - to sail to Italy, but her husband had drowned during the journey.[1] Migrants risk their lives when they try to climb aboard, or travel on, lorries occasionally falling off and breaking bones and some fatalities en route are recorded. The camps themselves are also dangerous, particularly for women, with a volatile mix of desperate young men of different nationalities, drinking, and violence.[1][14]

Facilities

Although no worse than many camps, the juxtaposition of the shanty town and developed world is stark: according to Médecins Sans Frontières there is some access to water including some showers (sometimes after up to six hours queuing),[13] some food is distributed, and heat is available during cold weather, but sanitation is poor and there are issues of water quality.

Care services are offered by Médecins du Monde and Médecins Sans Frontières and, according to UK charity Human Relief Foundation, the migrant population is generally healthy.[15]

Some quasi-legal enterprises exist but substance abuse and petty crime is rife.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d 'At night it's like a horror movie' – inside Calais's official shantytown. Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian, 6 April 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e Migrant squalor in Calais 'jungle'. Emma-Jane Kirby, BBC News, 2 July 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  3. ^ La « jungle » de Calais est majoritairement située en zone Seveso http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2015/10/19/la-jungle-de-calais-est-majoritairement-situee-en-zone-seveso_4792559_3224.html
  4. ^ What is Britain doing to help the Calais migrant crisis? http://www.france24.com/en/20151021-france-cazeneuve-calais-jungle-britain-role-resolving-refugee-migrant-crisis
  5. ^ a b c d e Calais mayor threatens to block port if UK fails to help deal with migrants. Natacha Bouchart, The Guardian, 3 September 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  6. ^ lemonde.fr: "La conquête méthodique du pouvoir", 7 mai 2007
  7. ^ Dawn raid on Calais "Jungle". The Connexion, 22 September 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  8. ^ French police round up 200 migrants in Calais swoop. Agence France-Presse, 21 Apr 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  9. ^ Calais crisis: Bicycle repair shops, mosques and an Orthodox church - the town where migrants wait to cross to Britain. Rory Mulholland, The Telegraph, 5 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  10. ^ "France has less and less influence in the EU, and fears to use what it still has". The Economist. 7 November 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  11. ^ Accès aux soins: Médecins du Monde alerte sur la situation des migrants http://www.nordeclair.fr/france-monde/acces-aux-soins-medecins-du-monde-alerte-sur-la-jna0b0n897938
  12. ^ Calais 'Jungle': Migrants hit dead end in journey to UK. Fergal Keane, BBC News, 9 October 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  13. ^ a b c Calais, la jungle, une médecin mayennaise témoigne http://lamayenneonadore.fr/main/2015/10/19/calais-la-jungle-une-medecin-mayennaise-temoigne/
  14. ^ At least 15 migrants died in 'shameful' Calais conditions in 2014. Matthew Taylor and Guy Grandjean, The Guardian, 23 December 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  15. ^ UK charity considers cutting off aid for the ‘Jungle’ at Calais after visiting the camp and deciding most migrants had no real reason to leave their home country http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3262220/UK-charity-considers-cutting-aid-Jungle-Calais-visiting-camp-deciding-migrants-no-real-reason-leave-home-country.html
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