Beorn
06-21-2009, 03:18 PM
FRENCH MINISTER VOWS TO CLEAR MIGRANTS FROM CALAIS TENT CAMPS TO PREVENT UK CROSSINGS
20/6/2009- France's immigration minister vowed Thursday to tear down tent camps housing hundreds of illegal migrants outside Calais to prevent them from trying to cross the English Channel to Britain. Eric Besson's pledge comes amid concern on both sides of the channel about swelling numbers in the tent camps, a magnet for migrants pinning hopes on Britain for a chance at a better life. The migrants — many from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq — try to cross the channel on trucks that cross by ferry or undersea train. The issue has been a thorn in cross-channel relations.
Besson urged Britain to play "a greater role in the control of its borders," without elaborating. Besson pledged to clear the tent camps in the woods north of Calais by the end of the year and to dismantle migrant smuggling networks. Besson said "local mafias" run the camps — including an area dubbed "the jungle" in a field in an industrial zone — and pledged to "reconquer these lawless zones." He said the number of migrants has doubled over the past year to about 800, the biggest such figure since the 2002 closure of a Red Cross-run refuge at the request of British authorities.
Besson insisted that France would not open a new center to house the migrants. Instead, he said the government would open information centers and provide health care for migrants — but at sites at least six miles (10 kilometers) away from Calais.
Aid groups welcome efforts to punish smugglers but argue that Besson's measures will make the humanitarian situation worse. "Migration from Afghanistan is not going to stop because we decided on a few police measures," said Pierre Henry, director of aid group France Terre d'Asile. Monique Delannoy, president of Calais migrants' aid group La Belle Etoile, added: "In the coming months, there is a risk of a rise in violence not only against the police but above all among migrants, who will fight each other for a place to stay." "We are destroying the one place where 800 young people, aged 15 to 25, can rest," she said of plans to clean out "the jungle." Besson promised to present a plan in June to tighten surveillance of the entrance to the tunnel under the English Channel, near Calais. Earlier this week, French police raided tent camps and detained nearly 200 people found without residency papers around Calais. Most were later released.
Nationwide, 101 suspected migrant-smuggling networks were dismantled and 5,000 members arrested in 2008, including 350 in Calais, said Daniel Duboit, a senior border police official.
Source (http://www.icare.to/article.php?id=21353&lang=en)
20/6/2009- France's immigration minister vowed Thursday to tear down tent camps housing hundreds of illegal migrants outside Calais to prevent them from trying to cross the English Channel to Britain. Eric Besson's pledge comes amid concern on both sides of the channel about swelling numbers in the tent camps, a magnet for migrants pinning hopes on Britain for a chance at a better life. The migrants — many from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq — try to cross the channel on trucks that cross by ferry or undersea train. The issue has been a thorn in cross-channel relations.
Besson urged Britain to play "a greater role in the control of its borders," without elaborating. Besson pledged to clear the tent camps in the woods north of Calais by the end of the year and to dismantle migrant smuggling networks. Besson said "local mafias" run the camps — including an area dubbed "the jungle" in a field in an industrial zone — and pledged to "reconquer these lawless zones." He said the number of migrants has doubled over the past year to about 800, the biggest such figure since the 2002 closure of a Red Cross-run refuge at the request of British authorities.
Besson insisted that France would not open a new center to house the migrants. Instead, he said the government would open information centers and provide health care for migrants — but at sites at least six miles (10 kilometers) away from Calais.
Aid groups welcome efforts to punish smugglers but argue that Besson's measures will make the humanitarian situation worse. "Migration from Afghanistan is not going to stop because we decided on a few police measures," said Pierre Henry, director of aid group France Terre d'Asile. Monique Delannoy, president of Calais migrants' aid group La Belle Etoile, added: "In the coming months, there is a risk of a rise in violence not only against the police but above all among migrants, who will fight each other for a place to stay." "We are destroying the one place where 800 young people, aged 15 to 25, can rest," she said of plans to clean out "the jungle." Besson promised to present a plan in June to tighten surveillance of the entrance to the tunnel under the English Channel, near Calais. Earlier this week, French police raided tent camps and detained nearly 200 people found without residency papers around Calais. Most were later released.
Nationwide, 101 suspected migrant-smuggling networks were dismantled and 5,000 members arrested in 2008, including 350 in Calais, said Daniel Duboit, a senior border police official.
Source (http://www.icare.to/article.php?id=21353&lang=en)