There are just 50.5 km between this hell and a second chance. And 16 innocent people have died trying to cross. France and the UK are investing millions in building higher walls and are planning a way to expel the refugees.
Virginia Moreno Molina
With dirty clothes, damp sheets, improvised shelters and one meal a day: this is how more than 5,000 immigrants in Calais are surviving, about 4,000 in the camp known as ‘The Jungle’ on the outskirts of the city.
In reality this place is the ‘New Jungle’, as it has taken over the name of an earlier encampment dismantled by the French authorities, but the sit
e has remade itself and conditions there are growing worse.
They try to jump onto trains, lorries and vans, to make the crossing to England, and are living for weeks or months in subhuman conditions.
Azar Zhyan, aged 23 put it like this to The Guardian newspaper: “Cameron spends £1 million to build a fence when he could build a camp.
The UN, Unicef drive around in their giant Land Cruisers, but 
don’t stop. French and British civilians are the only ones who help us. Afghans are refugees, Syrians are refugees. Let us in, and if we take your welfare throw us out. I want to live like a human being, pay taxes”.
Some Pakistanis have opened improvised shops inside the camp, where people can get food, drinks, homemade cigarettes and British SIM cards for mobile phones.
It’s a way to do business, but also to supply the basic needs for those who can afford them.
On the other hand, a mobile App which went on sale this September is making things more difficult for those who are trying to cross the Channel.
This device, designed by Jeffrey Scott, whose work is installing security equipment in vehicles, allows a lorry driver to report immigrants hiding in their vehicle. Once again the priorities are not investing in creating solutions, but on the counter-attack to expel immigrants.
Morality versus security
Attempts to cross are continuing, and the hope of finding a gap in the security to escape this hell makes refugees ready to risk everything for freedom.
But the numbers are a scandal and they are still increasing. The authorities have stopped 39,000 attempted illegal Channel crossings in the last year.
The Eurotunnel Company says that 37,000 attempts to enter have been stopped since January, according to articles published by The Guardian.
But the immigrants continue taking the risk of being injured by falling from a train, or trying to climb the walls. It is their only chance of crossing.
According to the Financial Times, in July Eurotunnel, which is responsible for operations in the tunnel, billed the UK for 9.7 million euros expenses for security as a result of the situation in Calais: building walls, extra floodlights at night, cameras, infra-red detectors, extra staff, and the loss of revenue caused by forced closures of the tracks.
According to the company the British Government has agreed to compensate them with 4.7 million euros.
This sum is in addition to the 5 million euros agreed between the British and French authorities last year to help the city of Calais deal with security and the migration crisis.
Large amounts of money aimed at blocking thousands of migrants from entering the UK. Money wasted which could be invested in finding a solution to this problem which has been dragging on for years leaving the bodies of victims in its wake.
With this sum hundreds of families could be accommodated, offering them a better life and a second chance in the UK, ‘the democratic and multicultural country’.
However, once again David Cameron is not distinguishing himself by his solidarity with the immigrants. But what can be expected when there is a constant battle within his own government?
More barriers, new routes
Security measures have been increasing in Calais, so the migrants have discovered new routes.
Dieppe and Oustreham have become alternative ports of embarkation since the reinforcement of security along the Channel. Oustreham, a small fishing port, currently known as ‘Little Calais’ is 200 miles away from Calais, but the distance is nothing compared to the long journeys the refugees have already made.
According to articles in The Telegraph, the police are arresting about 20 migrants each week in Oustreham.
This is a big increase compared to the 5 weeks before controls were installed and walls built in Calais this summer.
The majority of those detained are released after being interrogated, and some have been ordered to leave France within 30 days: an absurdity in the present situation.
Avoidable deaths
Since June 2015, 16 people have died trying to get into the UK, the 2 most recent being in mid-October.
One of them died during the night after being hit by a goods train in the terminal at Coquelles, according to Eurotunnel. The other was knocked down by a car on the motorway near the tunnel.
“The train driver has been offered psychological counselling in the scheme which Eurotunnel operates for this kind of incident, and the police are dealing with other aspects”, Eurotunnel said, adding that services through Folkestone had been delayed for several hours, according to the BBC. And although the psychological trauma of the train driver is very important, it seems that the lives of refugees are of lower priority. Millions of euros continue being invested in security but not a single euro in offering help to these people.
The Mafia: dangerous alternatives
Other ports being used include Dunkirk in France and Ostend in Belgium. In fact, according to The Guardian, Téteghem, an area of Dunkirk, has blamed the ‘British mafia’ for running a smuggling operation between Dunkirk and the UK, noting the large number of vehicles with GB registration in the camp.
This port, 20 miles from Calais has a reputation as being
dangerous for refugees, where many criminals are making money from their desperation. An Eritrean man told The Observer newspaper: “This place is not safe, the traffickers are robbing and murdering people”.
However, this situation is found in all the areas where traffickers see a chance of making money from those who need help. The price can reach as high as £1500 for a crossing to the UK: a price which many people decide to pay in the hope of finding an escape from their situation.
(Translated by Graham Douglas)