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France – immigration
Calais immigrant camp to be shut down by year’s end
Article published on the 2009-04-24 Latest update 2009-04-24 09:22 TU
The migrant camp in Calais, called the "jungle", 23 April 2009
(Photo: Reuters)
France will shut down a migrant camp at the port of Calais, in the north of the country, by the end of the year, Immigration Minister Eric Besson announcd Thursday. The squatters’ camp, known as "the jungle”, is used by hundreds of immigrants who are trying to cross the Channel to Britain.
"We will take the time necessary to prepare the dismantlement of the camp, but the jungle must be gone before the end of the year," Besson told a news conference.
As part of a six-point plan for the migrants, he said the government will help with food and healthcare, as well as with applications for political asylum.
But he also said Britain needed to do more to strengthen border controls.
"Only a clear and credible message from Britain that the border cannot be trespassed will deter illegal immigration rings from coming to Calais,” he said.
British junior Interior Minister Phil Woolas insisted that border controls are strong.
"The illegal migrants in Calais are not queuing to get into Britain, they have been locked out by one of the toughest border crossings in the world," he said.
Residents and businesses in Calais have complained about the number of migrants in their town.
On Tuesday, French police detained 190 migrants from the camp, but released them the next day. Immigration officials said the raid was the first step towards shutting down the camp.
The camp was formed after the Red Cross shelter in nearby Sangatte was closed in November, 2002, by President Nicolas Sarkozy when he was Interior Minister.
Besson insisted that the new measures to help the migrants would not be a "new or mini-Sangatte".
Aid groups say between 600 and 800 people, mostly Kurds, but also from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Iran and Nigeria, have been sleeping outdoors in the Calais region.
"Concerning the jungle, I couldn't oppose the closure of such a discgraceful place," Pierre Henry of the France Terre d'Asile NGO told the Metro freesheet. "The real quesioin is when to do afterwards."
The situation in Calais is a "European failure" and "the fruit of British selfishness", he says, and calls for scrapping of the EU's "Dublin rules" which, he says, prevent some of the migrants from seeking asylum in France, Europe-wide efforts to help them and measures to protect them, according to the rule of the Geneva convention.
 French authorities to close Calais migrant camp |
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