Migrants in Calais: the government offers accommodation outside the city
Didier Leschi, director of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII), sent on a mediation mission to Calais by the government, on October 28, 2021 in Calais.
AFP - FRANCOIS LO PRESTI
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
In the north of France, in Calais, migrants evacuated from their makeshift camps will be “
systematically accommodated
”, if they wish, but outside Calais.
This is what the mediator sent on site by the government announced on Tuesday.
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“
We will systematically offer accommodation, which will be essentially in Pas-de-Calais, in Hauts-de-France, but not in Calais
”, where the government “
fears
” the resurgence of the “
jungle” that was dismantled
there. five years, explained Didier Leschi, the boss of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII). The gigantic encampment then brought together in chaotic humanitarian conditions, up to 10,000 candidates for passage to England.
These government announcements to get out of the crisis in Calais come on the 23rd day of a
hunger strike
by two activists and a priest, in the Saint-Pierre church in Calais. They are protesting against the
living conditions of refugees
in this border town with the United Kingdom. Refugees who live in unhealthy camps evacuated daily, moreover seeing their meager personal effects confiscated during the expulsions. The hunger strikers notably demand an end to dismantling during the winter.
Didier Leschi thus recognized,
de facto
, that the evacuations of camps in Calais were not always accompanied by proposals for sheltering, which is however the rule.
To keep its commitment, the State will have to "
increase its accommodation base
" by "
several hundred places
", underlined the mediator.
A period of "
about 45 minutes
" will now be left to migrants to gather their belongings, said the boss of the OFII.
There will be no more
evacuation by surprise
, he also promised, assuring in addition that an OFI maraud "
will pass before each evacuation
" to carry out a social diagnosis, in connection with the associations.
40,000 people since the start of the year
The government's fear is linked to the scale of the flows: since the start of the year, almost 40,000 people have arrived on the northern coast.
"
The State cannot knowingly allow a clandestine departure base to be organized for England, while people are also risking their lives crossing the Channel
", explains Didier Leschi.
►
See also: Migrants: a mediator sent to Calais to meet hunger strikers
Largely insufficient for associations
The announcements made by the government on Tuesday could come into effect as soon as “
the weekend
”, said the mediator.
But the proposals do not suit his interlocutors on the spot.
They are calling for a moratorium on evacuations, while the winter truce came into effect on Monday.
This is largely insufficient for associations.
Reporting.
"Stop the harassment, leave them their tents, leave them their personal effects", yells an activist.
[…] Nathanaël Caillot, volunteer at Secours Catholique: "We regret to see that we are at a standstill. What is being offered to us today is the same situation for years. The harassment will continue and this is true. unacceptable, intolerable. "
The anger of associations in Calais
Alexis Bedu
The director general of the OFII was sent by the Ministry of the Interior last week to Calais for a "contact and mediation mission" with the strikers, the priest Philippe Demeestère, chaplain of the Catholic Help, 72 years old, and two activists, Anaïs Vogel and Ludovic Holbein.
At the end of discussions last Wednesday and Thursday, local actors deplored an “electoralist” visit, while the hunger strikers felt that the mediator did
not
provide “
any solutions
”
(With
AFP
)
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