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The Calais migrant problem: a continual drip of poison in Anglo-French relations The Calais migrant problem: a continual drip of poison in Anglo-French relations
(about 1 hour later)
For nearly 20 years, the intractable “Calais migrant problem” has been going round in circles, like a game of toxic pass the parcel back and forth across the Channel. It is a continual drip of poison in the relationship between Britain and France.For nearly 20 years, the intractable “Calais migrant problem” has been going round in circles, like a game of toxic pass the parcel back and forth across the Channel. It is a continual drip of poison in the relationship between Britain and France.
Seen from France, London’s latest insistence that the main answer to migrants’ attempts to stow away is more security fences and more French policing is far from a long-term remedy. At best it offers a flimsy sticking plaster on a gaping wound.Seen from France, London’s latest insistence that the main answer to migrants’ attempts to stow away is more security fences and more French policing is far from a long-term remedy. At best it offers a flimsy sticking plaster on a gaping wound.
Cross-Channel viewpoints differ strikingly. From the traffic jams of Kent, the local conservative MP says France isn’t doing enough to police the tunnel and ports. But to a French aid worker building emergency latrines for thousands of refugees in a huge diarrhoea-ridden open-air squat in Calais it seems that Britain is exporting its asylum problems, asking Paris to do its dirty work along a British border that has conveniently shifted from Dover to the northern French coast.Cross-Channel viewpoints differ strikingly. From the traffic jams of Kent, the local conservative MP says France isn’t doing enough to police the tunnel and ports. But to a French aid worker building emergency latrines for thousands of refugees in a huge diarrhoea-ridden open-air squat in Calais it seems that Britain is exporting its asylum problems, asking Paris to do its dirty work along a British border that has conveniently shifted from Dover to the northern French coast.
This month, a French independent advisory body, the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, published a report expressing “profound shock” at the “inhuman” conditions facing migrants in Calais, and warning against a decade of opaque and rambling treaties agreed between London and Paris that had left France in the “extremely worrying” position of acting as “the policing arm of British migration policy”. It said the two countries’ asylum strategy needed to be radically reviewed. This month, a French independent advisory body, the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, published a report expressing “profound shock” at the “inhuman” conditions facing migrants in Calais, and criticising a decade of opaque and rambling treaties agreed between London and Paris that had left France in the “extremely worrying” position of acting as “the policing arm of British migration policy”. It said the two countries’ asylum strategy needed to be radically reviewed.
Almost 13 years since the notorious Sangatte Red Cross shelter was closed after British complaints that it had become a magnet for migrants trying to reach Kent, Calais is once again at crisis point. Currently, around 3,000 migrants, many of them refugees from war zones and dictatorships, are sleeping rough in fetid conditions in the northern French town, plagued with skin disease and cajoled by people traffickers, risking their lives by trying to cling to the bottom of lorries. Almost 13 years since the notorious Sangatte Red Cross shelter was closed after British complaints that it had become a magnet for migrants trying to reach Kent, Calais is once again at crisis point. Currently, around 3,000 migrants, many of them refugees from war zones and dictatorships, are sleeping rough in fetid conditions in the northern French town, plagued with skin disease and cajoled by people smugglers, risking their lives by trying to cling to the bottom of lorries.
The numbers in Calais are tiny compared to the up to 180,000 migrants who have arrived by boat in southern Europe this year. But the Calais crisis has deepened this summer because of the growing number of arrivals elsewhere and because striking French ferry workers have separately caused travel chaos. The numbers in Calais are tiny compared with the estimated 180,000 migrants who have arrived by boat in southern Europe this year. But the Calais crisis has deepened this summer because of the growing number of arrivals elsewhere and because striking French ferry workers have separately caused travel chaos.
Theresa May has announced more UK funding to help French security operations and will send 1.2 miles of fencing used at a Nato summit in Newport last year. France, which had already increased its Calais police presence fivefold since 2012, immediately sent 120 extra gendarmes and riot police to the tunnel. But strong-arm security is not a magic solution. The French police watchdog is currently examining allegations of police brutality against migrants. The British home secretary, Theresa May, has announced more UK funding to help French security operations and will send 1.2 miles of fencing used at a Nato summit in Newport last year. France, which had already increased its Calais police presence fivefold since 2012, immediately sent 120 extra gendarmes and riot police to the tunnel. But strong-arm security is not a magic solution. The French police watchdog is currently examining allegations of police brutality against migrants.
“You can put all the police in the world here, that won’t solve the problem,” said Pierre Henry, the director of France Terre d’Asile, an NGO that works with asylum-seekers. Like other such groups, he said the long-term answer lay in a complete review of wider asylum strategy, opening up legal channels which would allow Britain and France to jointly examine asylum requests in Calais.“You can put all the police in the world here, that won’t solve the problem,” said Pierre Henry, the director of France Terre d’Asile, an NGO that works with asylum-seekers. Like other such groups, he said the long-term answer lay in a complete review of wider asylum strategy, opening up legal channels which would allow Britain and France to jointly examine asylum requests in Calais.
French public opinion is deeply sensitive to the impact on Calais and the recent migrant deaths. No one knows this better than the Socialist interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve who was MP for Cherbourg, which has its own migrant problems along the coast. With the far-right Front National’s Marine Le Pen running in regional elections in the newly expanded Calais region this winter, the Calais question is likely to dominate local French politics all year. French public opinion is deeply sensitive to the impact on Calais and the recent migrant deaths. No one knows this better than the Socialist interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, who was MP for Cherbourg, which has its own migrant problems along the coast. With the far-right Front National’s Marine Le Pen running in regional elections in the newly expanded Calais region this winter, the Calais question is likely to dominate local French politics all year.