French bishop: Calais migrants are treated 'worse than dogs'

Migrant shelter near Calais - BK

After a visit to refugees and migrants stranded on the Calais coast, Bishop Olivier Leborgne, bishop of the diocese of Arras and Véronique Fayet, president of Secours Catholique - Caritas France, have made a joint statement on their plight. Local press report that this statement has also been endorsed by Christians in Calais.

Bishop Olivier said: Migrants in Calais are being treated by the authorities "worse than dogs."

Although MPs, church leaders, aid agencies and UN experts have appealed for the local authorities to respect the basic legal rights of migrants, in Calais, they continue to be systematically expelled by local authorities.

"The statement says: "Nothing justifies these people being mistreated in this way, excluded from access to essential needs, humiliated in the depths of their being."

Juliette Delaplace Secours Catholique coastal mission officer, described the way the authorities treat refugees as "ineffective are inhuman."

In February local authorities forced a small Secours Catholique project, the Creche, which offered basic food, medical care and warm clothing, to refugees sleeping in the open. Calais town hall then prohibited the distribution of food.

The Crèche had become a night shelter for a handful of migrants. The town's safety commission said it was 'too dangerous," and forced it to close.

On 22 March, 'Christians of Calais' distributed a joint open letter to the prefect in which they list a number of violations of human rights.

They said: "Together with our bishop, we see that it is a policy of mistreatment unworthy of our humanity."

They describe migrants, including women and children, being forced to line up outside in the cold to eat, walking three km to go to the toilet or take a shower; hiding personal effects in a woods; pitching tents in the mud, where they are only able to sleep for a short time before being moved on by police. They ask: "Is it fair to treat children, women and men like this, in France, in 2021?"

"We cannot remain indifferent to what is happening. This is why we wanted to share our dismay with you. These people are being treated 'worse than dogs'. No human being can accept that. Fraternity is inscribed in our national currency; consequently and legitimately we ask ourselves the question, are we moving away from it? "

They encourage priests and parish councils to take part in a reflection on the situation of the migrants on their doorstep.

Juliette Delaplace said she was encouraged by the support of local churches. "This shows that the people of Calais do not all agree with the policy of the town hall."

Campaigners are also taking multiple legal proceeding against the authorities. Among the cases the prefect of Pas-de-Calais is being taken to court for the dismantling of a migrant camp in September 2020.

The letter is appealing for

- an immediate moratorium on evictions from camps.
- allowing access to basic services (food, hygiene, electricity recharging, information on rights).
- emergency sheltering arrangements.
- a plan for a systematic and humane way of dealing with migrants and refugees - rather than simply moving them on

See the open letter to the parishes of Calais here:
www.paroisses-calais.fr/2021/03/declaration-commune-sur-la-situation-des-exiles-a-calais/