Day 211, Year of #Mygration: New report highlights the human rights situation in Northern France

Back in July, we featured a blog by OU Alumna and Year of Mygration Project Manager, Heidi McCafferty, who highlighted the time she spent volunteering in the Calais 'Jungle' camp. Today, Help Refugees, the organisation she volunteered with, has co-published a report with Refugee Rights Europe in order to highlight the human rights situation which has been unfolding in Northern France.

After decades of encampments and evictions, it is evident that the state approach tried so far is simply not working. In light of this, Refugee Rights Europe and Help Refugees have published a new report, drawing heavily on from-the-ground updates by Help Refugees, l’Auberge des Migrants and other organisations operating in Calais and Dunkirk, as well as several Refugee Rights Europe research reports published in 2016-2018. They are now urgently calling on the French and British governments to find new, constructive solutions, including:

• A non-violent approach adopted as the default position by French authorities, and a de-escalation of the tense situation for refugees and displaced people in Northern France.

• The urgent provision of adequate shelter, food, water and sanitation, as well as accessible information and legal guidance.

• An increased presence of social workers, interpreters, medical staff and psychologists in northern France, and assurance that such services are available without discrimination based on immigration status.

• An end to the harassment and intimidation of volunteers and charities providing displaced people with humanitarian aid.

• Expanded safe and legal pathways to Britain, through which asylum applications, Dublin Regulation family reunification applications and Dubs cases can be processed.

For many years, a bottle-neck scenario has been unfolding in Northern France, characterised by precarity, rough-sleeping, dangerous and unauthorised border-crossings, and excessive police violence which often takes the shape of dangerous interventions.

The use of tear gas and intimidation tactics, as well as what would appear to amount to intentional sleep deprivation, appears to be part of a conscious tactic by the French state to create a hostile environment for refugees and asylum seekers in Northern France.

Such an approach – combined with an undeniable failure on the part of the British government to meaningfully facilitate safe and legal passage for prospective asylum-seekers and those looking to be reunited with family in Britain – directly hinders an effective resolution to a detrimental and decades-long situation.

Both organisations are now encouraging people to write to their MP condemning the current approach.

Email your MP today