NGOs drop support for 'ill-prepared' Calais Jungle evacuation
The notorious makeshift migrant camp in the French Channel port of Calais, which NGOs estimate houses between 8,000 and 10,000 people, including 1,300 minors without parents, is to be evacuated and razed in the coming weeks. But 11 humanitarian associations involved in providing assistance for the migrants living in a shantytown of huts and tents known as “the Jungle”, many of which initially supported the move, have now applied for a court order to halt the operation, arguing that it is “a violation of the fundamental rights of the exiled”. Carine Fouteau hears from the head of one of the most active NGOs, L’Auberge des Migrants, why it has now come out against the evacuation and his fears over the consequences.
ItIt was after talks with interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve and his officials, together with housing minister Emmanuelle Cosse, earlier this week that representatives of the major NGOs that provide medical and material assistance to the thousands of migrants living in appalling conditions in “the Jungle” camp in Calais withdrew their earlier support for the French government’s plan to evacuate the shantytown.
