The life of migrants is not easy when they arrive in a country after their long journey, and it is particularly true for Calais, France.
But the situation of aid workers is not easy either according to an article by Helen Griffiths, coordinator in the Children’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.
Griffiths tells us the story of young aid worker Marie and police harassment perpetrated against volunteers in Calais:
It was mid-morning in late June, but the warehouse in Calais was dark, cold, and drafty. I sat on the ground with “Marie,” a tall, slim French woman in her early twenties. Bent forward with a look of concentration, she described how the French police are not only harassing the hundreds of migrants in Calais, they are targeting aid workers too. “They put pressure, stopping what we are doing.”
We also learn more about the dire situation of migrants in Calais:
Nongovernmental organizations have played an increasingly crucial role since French authorities closed the so-called “Jungle” camp in Calais in October 2016, and migrants and asylum seekers were taken to reception centers across France. The authorities want to prevent construction of another makeshift settlement in Calais, but migrants have returned. Conditions are desperate. Currently, between 700 and 1000 migrants, most from Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan, are living and sleeping out in the open, including between 100 and 200 unaccompanied children.
Aid workers feel like they’re treated like criminals…
Aid workers also described being physically pushed by police, and in mid-July, the police sprayed volunteers when they stopped to help an injured migrant in need of water. When they went to report what happened to them, they felt like they were being interrogated. “It really felt like […] we were criminals,” one told me. Another worker told me that one police officer had asked if she would rather be sprayed or hit with a baton.
Read full article on this page.
