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Viewpoint: Calais asylum seekers - the context and the solution


Ben and Marie-Claude Bano

Ben and Marie-Claude Bano

Barbara Kentish from Westminster Justice and Peace writes: Ben Bano and his wife Marie Claude, founders of Seeking Sanctuary, have been helping Calais migrants from their home in Kent for some time, and only became known to Westminster Justice and Peace when the crisis emerged a few weeks ago. Ben told me recently that he worries it may disappear from the news again once the ferry strike is over and the tunnel is running smoothly. 'They will need blankets and clothes even more when winter comes and they are no longer headline news'.

So it is good to remember the context and to look for solutions. Many remember the Sangatte camp outside Calais 15 years ago, and we cannot ignore the ongoing Mediterranean crisis. On one Tuesday in August alone, the Italian navy coordinated the rescue of 1700 migrants, and 250,000 have crossed the Mediterranean this year so far, said the UN High Commissioner on Refugees. There is, in other words, a European refugee crisis. The 3000-5000 refugees in Calais add up to a minute fraction of the people seeking a home in Europe. It is not beyond the UK's capacity to absorb such a number, when Germany has taken in 97,275 in 2014, France 68,500, Sweden 39,905, and Italy 35,180. The UK? 10,050 - about 1/10 of the German total.

How would taking in the Calais refugees work? A processing office in Calais would be needed, and perhaps temporary resettlement points in the UK, not necessarily in areas where there are already high concentrations of migrants. In 1972, the British government accepted upwards of 27,000 Ugandan Asians fleeing from Idi Amin's persecution. Between August and December of that year, the numbers who took up the offer of resettlement camps were around 17,000. By Christmas, less than 10,000 remained to be settled, with the camps closing shortly after that (Hansard 6th December 1972). While this was a different political situation, with a more homogenous group, the Ugandan Asian Resettlement Committee illustrated the way churches and voluntary agencies worked with government to solve a crisis. Surely such imagination and good will are not lacking today, and we hope the government will accept the humanitarian challenge to look for this or other alternative solutions.

In the meantime, the Calais stand-off continues, and so Westminster parishes are trying to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in need, and also our fellow French Caritas, Secours Catholique by sending goods such as blankets and clothes.

See: www.seekingsanctuary.weebly.com and www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/pages/calais-appeal

The Westminster Justice and Peace statement about the Calais situation, can be seen on our website, www.westminsterjp.wordpress.com

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