Base policy on people, not fences

Base policy on people, not fences

The tragic experience of one refugee - Aram Sabah Xalid - trying to get from France to the UK was sufficiently sensational to make media headlines. It came after three refugees were killed on the roads outside Calais port in December, a month after a 15-year-old refugee was run over by a truck.

Dramatic deaths make news and are shocking. But so are British and French government policies towards refugees and migrants in Calais.

France is to blame for the phenomenon of Calais and other camps that have sprung up along the border. The French cannot blame the UK for a situation on its own territory. Many more migrants in Calais would stay in France had they been given basic support. Many of the people we have spoken to previously in Calais had indeed applied in France but they could no longer cope with living on the street.

No one wants to see Calais-style camps: they should not exist. Asylum seekers should not be sleeping on the streets of Europe. The establishment of proper reception areas would remove the need for such settlements.

We are also calling for complete separation between border control – where the policy is to create a hostile atmosphere, and supporting people who are already in Europe – where the overriding need is caring for vulnerable people.

However, since Calais is effectively a border town between France and the UK, it is right for the UK to accept and assess applications on that border.

The British Government recently said that it is prepared to spend another £44.5m for extra security measures in France to prevent another “Jungle” camp emerging in Calais or any other Channel port, on top of the millions already spent. But fences and security are not the answer.

The heart of the policy should be about people. Money would be better spent assessing the applications of those seeking entry to Britain, supporting applicants during the assessment process.

Joint action is crucial. European – or, if that word is anathema to some, neighbourly – cooperation is required. So we welcome the recent agreement that Britain will accelerate procedures for accepting ‘legitimate’ asylum seekers currently blocked in Calais, including those seeking to rejoin their families in the UK and unaccompanied children.

We also welcome the UK’s agreement to consider accepting unaccompanied children who arrived in Europe before 19 January 2018 rather than sticking to the previous deadline of March 2016. But there should not be a date on saving lives.

However, the UK has not increased its commitment in terms of numbers. It had agreed to take 480 unaccompanied children under the 2016 scheme conceived by Lord Dubs but has so far transferred only about 220. There are an estimated 90,000 unaccompanied migrant minors in Europe.

If the processing of asylum applications for the UK in France is implemented it will reduce the number of people like Aram Sabah Xalid who risk their lives smuggling themselves across the border. It is only in the absence of legal routes that people use smugglers.

More articles from Migrant Voice about Calais:

All that is wrong with Europe - my diary from Calais

Higher fences will not solve the Calais migrant crisis

Outside of the Jungle - my diary from Calais

Calais: ‘For that brief moment, they had a place of safety’