It's a jungle out there. The real world is severe – the migrants at the Jungle camp in Calais will vouch for this statement, as they prepared on Tuesday for their final day in the infamous refugee camp.
Till the last reports came in, authorities were on the verge of taking down the shacks, tents and other make-do shelters that thousands have called their home over the past two years.
Thousands of residents who have left the camp were warned in no uncertain terms not to return to the camp as it would be a “blind alley” in their attempt to reach the UK.
Sylvie Bermann, France’s ambassador to the UK, said French police would remain in the northern port to prevent new camps being established.
“The government is determined to stop people coming back to Calais. We won’t let them come. It has to be clear that Calais is a blind alley, and you can’t come to this country. We will leave policemen there for the time being,” she told BBC radio.
More than 2,000 police, including riot squads, have been deployed to Calais as the “Jungle” is being closed down and demolished.
Around 2,000 residents, mainly Sudanese and Eritrean, were taken by bus to 80 accommodation centres around France on Monday.
Around 5,000 remain and the French authorities and charities expect around 2,000 to resist being moved which could spark clashes, with hundreds of British and French anarchists also believed to be in the area.
Young people could be seen crouching down by metal barriers while police formed a protective circle around them.
Amid reported tensions between the French and British governments over the pace of transferring unaccompanied children, Bermann said there were 600 in special centres in Calais waiting to be processed.
“It’s impossible for the French to know if they really have families in the UK. So we gave the list to the UK Government and now they will have to process,” she said.
The operation to clear the tents and shelters is expected to take three days.
The “Jungle” has become a key symbol of Europe's migration crisis, housing some 7,000 residents in squalid conditions.
The operation to close the camp has been largely peaceful so far, but concerns remain that some migrants will refuse to give up their attempts to cross the Channel.
The consequence of this demolition would be to scatter people across the region, leaving them prey to the dangerous human trafficking gangs. When part of the “Jungle” was cleared by French authorities earlier this year, it is believed that around 100 children disappeared.
Some politicians in France have stated that the only reason the “Jungle” exists is because the people there want to come to the UK.
The government has been flayed over the pace of efforts to transfer children with a right to be in the UK.
Some of the first arrivals earlier this week provoked speculation over their ages amid suggestions some appeared to look much older than teenagers.
In an eleventh hour gesture, Britain has taken almost 200 teenagers over the last week, either because they have family links here already, or under the Dubs amendment requiring the government to give refuge to vulnerable children stranded in Europe. The 200 teenagers include 60 girls identified as at high risk of sexual exploitation.
The fate of hundreds of unaccompanied children is a concern, with charities warning they could become lost in the clearance chaos.
The minors are the only group permitted to remain in the camp. They will be housed in shipping containers in a secure area of the camp where they will wait to be assessed by French and British authorities to decide where they will be sent.
In May the UK government had promised to give asylum to thousands of unaccompanied minors. The decision certainly must have got the approval of the mainstream because of emotional reasons, principally. Though it was very humane to make such an annoucement that would earn the country lot of goodwill, ideally asylum policy has to both compassionate and informed by common sense.
Home Office figures show that in September 2015, nearly two-thirds of child refugees whose ages were challenged by officials turned out to be over 18. This has deep practical repercussions. It is the local taxpayers who pay the bill for schools and social care that, in some cases, may not be appropriate. Also, putting adults into places reserved for children is a risky affair.
Something similar happened in Sweden in 2015. Stockholm accepted 35,000 child asylum seekers last year. Today the ground reality is – schools there have been overburdened; adults claiming to be children have taken to heinous crimes. Now the authorities in Sweden are casting doubts on the ages of 70% of those claiming to be between 15 and 17 years of age. Lately, they have begun the processs of rigorous age tests as well. But then that is like going for cure rather than preventing things in the first place.
The British people want to see children who need asylum helped to settle in the UK. Britain is a very generous and accommodating nation. But the asylum system has to have integrity. This is because if proper check is not kept on the inflow of asylum seekers, it will lead to exploitation, which in turn will lead to criminality and may turn popular opinion against a worthy endeavour. To prevent problems in future, Britain should be shrewd enough to raise questions about the process beforehand, which is, in fact, a responsible thing to do.
Another important thing is – bulldozing the Jungle camp will solve little. As long as the root problems are not tackled, the Jungle will be replaced by another and yet another. UK and France must make sure that the northern French coast does not become a magnet for migrants.
The wavering leadership of Francois Hollande has also contributed to the Calais crisis. The “Jungle” could have been cleared long ago. It is incredible that the French government has allowed the “Jungle” to grow in size to accommodate almost 10,000 people, before taking action. The French authorities allowed a shanty town to come into being, looked the other way on crime gangs and let it become a political issue in the presidential election campaign. These are people that France hoped would just go away. Instead, they have been allowed to fester in the “Jungle”. The migrants have then used the camp as a base to make desperate, dangerous raids into the Port of Calais, or the Channel Tunnel, and to break into the back of lorries crossing to the UK. Many have lost their lives in the process.
The government concerned must understand that a policy which ushers in illegal migrants to the Channel will not stand it in good stead. The need of the hour is to stem the migrant flow from the European Union. For that France and Britain have to work together in a conscientious manner.
Just because the migrant camp is being shut, that does not mean the problems will be over. No-one should be optimistic. Everything from the past suggests that the Calais migrant problem is chronic, and liable to deteriorate.
The example of a previous Calais crisis is fresh in everyone's minds – Sangatte.
From 1999 to 2002, a few miles to the south of the “Jungle” on the other side of Calais, a former Eurotunnel hangar was turned into a Red Cross holding centre for migrants. Originally conceived for just a few hundred, by the end it was holding more than 1,500 Afghans, Iraqi Kurds and Kosovans. Every week, many were being smuggled into the UK.
The French and UK governments agreed that Sangatte was acting as a magnet. For migrants, it was a necessary stepping stone on their route to the UK, because it was here that contacts and arrangements were made for the final illegal crossing.
And so, in December 2002, it was wound up. While the UK agreed to take in some 1,300 Kurds and Afghans, France coped with the rest.
