Refugees in Calais and Northern France must be treated with dignity and in accordance with international law, and the British and French governments must urgently find long-term humane solutions to their plight, the Green Party urged today.
The call comes after the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp was again in the headlines on both sides of the Channel. Protests against the camp by local residents took place this week, the French Government announced it will completely close the camp, and there was fresh disruption to cross-Channel traffic.
Jean Lambert, MEP for London and Green Party migration spokesperson, said:
The situation in Calais is a scandal, and it has been a scandal for a long time. Successive French and British governments have utterly failed to fulfil their responsibilities towards the vulnerable people who find themselves in the camps, especially unaccompanied children.
The ‘deterrence’ approach is clearly not working for anyone - local residents, lorry drivers and cross-channel travellers, and the refugees and asylum seekers.
Dismantling the camps is dangerous until proper alternative arrangements exist. Adding to the already chaotic situation will only cause more children to go missing and give more control to criminal gangs. The authorities need to gain the trust of people in the camps, provide them with the information they are entitled to, give them a sense of security, and handle their asylum claims properly.
The UK government must get its act together. Many of the people in Calais have a legal right to be reunited with family in the UK. The slow speed at which governments are dealing with asylum claims is inexcusable. People who find themselves in these camps do not want to enter the UK illegally but they need support to access the asylum system and no matter what they need to be treated with dignity