France has a variety of problems associated with migration and asylum-seekers from North Africa, but the port of Calais just 22 miles across the English Channel from Dover provides the jumping-off point for people who wish to cross into Britain. Other Channel ports, including those in Belgium and Holland, attract some would-be asylum-seekers anxious to enter Britain but Calais is the most important point of embarkation by far. The means employed usually involve stowing away in the back of one of the many trucks that pass daily into the English port. Despite the fact that truckers face a fine in England if it can be proved they knowingly transported illegal immigrants, many say that their human cargo climbs into the back of the vehicles without their knowledge. Some have alleged that immigrants have threatened them with knives in order to gain passage, but it cannot be ruled out that others knowingly collude in the trade for the substantial financial rewards it offers _ up to several thousand dollars per person carried. On the day BHHRG visited Dover 140 people had been found hidden in the back of a truck.
Many also enter Britain on the Eurostar train service from France. Once in France an immigrant can buy a ticket in Paris for the last station before the Tunnel and a second for the cross-Channel section of the route and get on the train with only perfunctory checks on documents to contend with since on showing only the first ticket the impression is given that he intends only to travel to Calais.
The French authorities allow those from Kosovo as well as from other parts of the ex-Yugoslavia (apart from Serbia) and Afghanistan provisional permission to stay in the country, even those who have arrived illegally. But problems with refugees from Kosovo are the most contentious.
In mid August, 209 Kosovars, including 59 children, set up camp in Calais's main park, the part Saint-Pierre, opposite the town hall to highlight their plight. On 20th August riot police (CRS) evacuated the area and dispersed the refugees to two locations _ a hanger 5km outside the town in the village of Sangatte and a hospital building at the rue Valmy, within Calais itself. As in Britain, the French authorities are sensitive to emotions and sympathy surrounding the Kosovo issue. While other refugees in the area have to make do with sleeping rough in and around the port, those from Kosovo are properly accommodated. The observers met several Iraqi Kurds living behind the bushes near the docks. One noted that in 1991 his people had been the West’s favourite refugees but they were forgotten now. This group said that the police had even prevented local people giving them food and regularly tried to move them on. However, the absence of any police presence in the vicinity of the docks at the time must be noted.
Reception Centres at Sangatte and the Rue Valmy
BHHRG visited the centre at Sangatte which had already gained the reputation among activists as a bleak and unsuitable place for the refugees to be. Although not of the very high standards seen in the Italian centres, Sangatte is acceptably run. Contrary to the media impression the refugees are not housed in the vast space but rather are accommodated in clean and well-appointed dormitory trailers within the hanger itself. A local charity provides food and play facilities for the few children there, but most of the residents are young men and they seem bored by their stay. On our visit volunteers were also cleaning the trailers _ mopping the floor while some young men still lay in bed. Others make their way around mid-day out of the hostel to walk to nearby Calais. The police on guard do not hinder their coming and going so there is nothing to stop anyone staying out and trying his luck in finding a passage to England. On reason why so many of the residents were still in bed towards noon may be that they had been down at the docks during the night.
As usual, the majority of those at Sangatte are young men. They all claim to come from Kosovo, mainly from Jacova (Djakovica) on the Albanian border where there was heavy fighting during the war. Some paid go-betweens at refugee camps in Albania and Macedonia for their passage out (normally through Albania itself). Only one man from Kosovska Mitrovica understood Serbian, the others did not, which may explain why there is a strong suspicion that many of the 'Kosovars' are, in fact, from Albania itself. Despite the boycott of all things Serb in the province over the past 10 years, Serbian was still the language for communication with the authorities. However, as most of them have no documentation whatsoever it is difficult to prove from where exactly they originate.
Frank reasons for wanting to come to Britain
When asked for their reasons for trying to get into Britain, all said that they wanted to come to Britain to work. There was no talk whatsoever of political persecution. They showed great faith in the Prime Minister, Tony Blair who was repeatedly referred to as their "friend". They believed that Tony Blair had promised to look after them _ certainly a forgivable impression derived from the Prime Minister’s his high-profile visits to refugee camps in Macedonia during the war. Some claimed to have family and friends in the UK. Others were quite open about the fact that they would try to bribe truck drivers to carry them illegally to the UK. They seemed able to find the money to pay the bribes. They had already often paid well over a thousand Deutsche Marks to reach Calais.
French police guard the hanger but the refugees are free to leave. Late at night we observed two young men from Sangatte down by the lorry park at the docks where they were, presumably, looking for transport. Although the French immigration authorities are supposed to be co-operating with their counterparts in Britain to stop the trade there were no police around the docks while we were there. Many feel that the French are insincere and are happy to 'solve the problem' locally by pushing it on elsewhere.
There were more women and children at the hospital in rue Valmy in Calais itself. There was little here for people to do, but the conditions were clean and well-maintained. BHHRG interviewed several young men who said they were from Kosovo. Again, the absence of documentation and the vagueness of their life histories gave rise to the suspicion that they were Albanian nationals. It seemed unlikely that the French authorities would be able to sort out the real Kosovar from the faux Albanian _ one official at rue Valmy described the language used by the refugees as 'Kosovan'.
The few hundred people accommodated in these centres are probably the losers in the battle to reach the UK. Although many will make it through sheer persistence, their more canny compatriots will have found a quicker and more hassle-free way to get there. The French authorities are all too aware that the mafia gangs and people smugglers which operate along the coastline slip through their fingers.
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