Post by Tim Collins on Apr 24, 2009 4:36:26 GMT -7
www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/world/europe/24immig.html?ref=global-home
Downloaded 4/24/09 5:36am
April 24, 2009
French Officials Vow to Shut Down Migrant Camp in Calais
By CAROLINE BROTHERS
CALAIS, France — Continuing their efforts to curb the movement of illegal migrants and refugees, French officials said Thursday that a migrant camp here in the overgrown sand dunes known as “the jungle” would be taken down by the end of the year.
The announcement was made two days after 500 police officers and other officials rounded up 194 migrants around Calais, trying to disrupt the networks that smuggle them into Britain.
“The jungle will not exist by the end of 2009,” Éric Besson, the French immigration minister, said after listening to local businesspeople, who said that their employees lived in fear of attack and that their operations were being damaged by the migrants. “The law of the jungle will not rule here in Calais or anywhere else in France.”
Even as volunteers watched teams of riot police officers block Afghan migrants trying to walk to City Hall, Mr. Besson insisted that the site would be dismantled.
After the authorities in 2002 closed a shelter run by the Red Cross in Sangatte, west of Calais, many migrants simply moved down the coast. Asked whether shutting the squatter camp in Calais might produce a similar result, Jean-Yves Topin, director of the French border police, said that was not a reason for inaction. “Just because it starts again three months later doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it,” he said.
Mr. Besson said France was in talks with Germany and Italy about ways to halt the movement of illegal migrants within what is known as the Schengen zone, the European region without border controls. Some of the migrants hope to seek work, while others are political refugees.
Mr. Besson said France was also talking with Britain about “more humanitarian and financial help.” While France is taking active steps, he said, Britain also needs to do more.
“Calais has been taken hostage because of national and international accords that the British don’t want to revise,” Natacha Bouchart, the mayor of Calais, said in an interview. “It is not up to us to ensure security for the comfort of the British people.”
Members of the charity Salam, which provides aid to migrant workers, said that local businesspeople were exaggerating when they talked about violence associated with them.
About 800 migrants, mostly from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Somalia and Eritrea are estimated to be staying in the vicinity of Calais, hoping to be smuggled onto trucks that would take them by ferry to Britain. They are attracted to Britain in part because many of them speak English and they think it is easier to find work there than in France.
Increased controls in Calais and at five other ports along the northern coast of France mean that migrants who once spent four days in Calais awaiting transfer are now waiting as long as five months. In a concession to humanitarian organizations, Mr. Besson said that by May 5, the government would open an information center in Calais where migrants could apply for asylum.
Downloaded 4/24/09 5:36am
April 24, 2009
French Officials Vow to Shut Down Migrant Camp in Calais
By CAROLINE BROTHERS
CALAIS, France — Continuing their efforts to curb the movement of illegal migrants and refugees, French officials said Thursday that a migrant camp here in the overgrown sand dunes known as “the jungle” would be taken down by the end of the year.
The announcement was made two days after 500 police officers and other officials rounded up 194 migrants around Calais, trying to disrupt the networks that smuggle them into Britain.
“The jungle will not exist by the end of 2009,” Éric Besson, the French immigration minister, said after listening to local businesspeople, who said that their employees lived in fear of attack and that their operations were being damaged by the migrants. “The law of the jungle will not rule here in Calais or anywhere else in France.”
Even as volunteers watched teams of riot police officers block Afghan migrants trying to walk to City Hall, Mr. Besson insisted that the site would be dismantled.
After the authorities in 2002 closed a shelter run by the Red Cross in Sangatte, west of Calais, many migrants simply moved down the coast. Asked whether shutting the squatter camp in Calais might produce a similar result, Jean-Yves Topin, director of the French border police, said that was not a reason for inaction. “Just because it starts again three months later doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it,” he said.
Mr. Besson said France was in talks with Germany and Italy about ways to halt the movement of illegal migrants within what is known as the Schengen zone, the European region without border controls. Some of the migrants hope to seek work, while others are political refugees.
Mr. Besson said France was also talking with Britain about “more humanitarian and financial help.” While France is taking active steps, he said, Britain also needs to do more.
“Calais has been taken hostage because of national and international accords that the British don’t want to revise,” Natacha Bouchart, the mayor of Calais, said in an interview. “It is not up to us to ensure security for the comfort of the British people.”
Members of the charity Salam, which provides aid to migrant workers, said that local businesspeople were exaggerating when they talked about violence associated with them.
About 800 migrants, mostly from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Somalia and Eritrea are estimated to be staying in the vicinity of Calais, hoping to be smuggled onto trucks that would take them by ferry to Britain. They are attracted to Britain in part because many of them speak English and they think it is easier to find work there than in France.
Increased controls in Calais and at five other ports along the northern coast of France mean that migrants who once spent four days in Calais awaiting transfer are now waiting as long as five months. In a concession to humanitarian organizations, Mr. Besson said that by May 5, the government would open an information center in Calais where migrants could apply for asylum.