Last week as the trial began of Scott Warren, a humanitarian aid volunteer who faces up to 20 years in prison for giving food, water and other supplies to migrants crossing into Arizona, I was reminded of the words of a refugee I met in Calais. It was the first day of the demolition of the “Jungle” camp in October 2016, and I had stumbled upon a small but miraculous garden encircled by a white picket fence. A young man, Jamal, invited me in. As we stood between the flowerbeds – a steady stream of heavily-laden people trudging by – he told me that his garden was not the only thing of beauty in the Jungle. “Many friendships have blossomed here,” he said. “And so many people have to come here just to help us. That is a very beautiful thing.”
At its peak, the Calais camp was home to approximately ten thousand people. Despite its size, it never gained legal status as a refugee camp and received very little official aid or humanitarian support. To fill the gap hundreds of humanitarian volunteers and human rights defenders arrived to help. They provided essential services, distributing meals, blankets, clothing and hygiene kits as well as monitoring the behaviour of the police towards the camp’s inhabitants.
The demolition of the camp did not end the plight of the refugees and migrants in Calais and things have also become increasingly difficult for volunteers who want to help. Whilst some refugees and migrants were transferred to accommodation in different parts of France, many others continue arriving and living around Calais and Grande-Synthe, a suburb of Dunkirk. There are currently well over 1,200 refugees and migrants, including lone children, scattered around northern France. Living in tents and informal camps, they have no regular access to food, water, sanitation, shelter or legal assistance and are subject to routine evictions, harassment, abuse and violence at the hands of the police.
