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Movement to and fro: the Calais region from 1986 to 2016
In 1986, Amnesty International focused on the situation of persons rejected at the UK border who found themselves homeless in Calais and without resources. Some of them seemed to be covered by the Geneva Convention on Refugees, and should thus have been able to request asylum. Under the impulse of Amnesty International, some inhabitants of Calais took up this question. That was the origin of La Belle Ătoile [The Beautiful Star], formed in 1994. It is impossible to say, thirty years later, whether it was by chance that this organization set up to defend human rights was aware at that point of a phenomenon which was not completely new (the rejection of migrants at the UK border), or if a reinforcement of border controls and a tightening of the rules governing entry to British territory made these individuals more numerous and more visible.
At that time, the rules of entry to European countries were generally far more flexible than they are today, and it was much easier to enter legally. The number of people affected by these rejections was therefore low. The Calais story is less one of an increasing migration than of a border that became closed to certain populations, coming chiefly, though not exclusively, from dictatorships and countries at war.
Moreover, UK border control was then carried out on the other side of the Channel, on English soil. The Channel Tunnel did not exist. The port was not yet surrounded by fences, and the train took travellers to the ferry terminal, where they only had to pass through the French customs.
That was thirty years ago. The intervening period has been marked by alternate periods of high visibility and relative disregard. Attention is drawn by individuals and particularly their congregation, by encampments, squats, shantytowns, âjunglesâ or institutional camps, to the point of relegating to the background the causes of the situation under our eyes. Moments of high visibility call for action on the part of the public authorities, who, finding themselves in the spotlight, offer some measures that attract attention, and others, sometimes just as important, that pass unnoticed. Calais was the focus of attention, although the situation is far more widespread, along the coastline from Brittany to the Netherlands, and now also from Spain to Germany, inland along the axes of communication, and in Paris, which has become rather a âsuburb of Calaisâ in this respect.
1986â1997: the indifference of the French authorities
La Belle Ătoile, the first organization of support for migrants blocked or rejected at the border, gave them material help and legal aid. To this end it worked with other voluntary organizations, such as Cimade and France Terre dâAsile [France Land of Asylum], or with public services such as the Service Social dâAide aux Ătrangers [Social Service for Assistance to Foreigners] and the Centres dâHĂ©bergement et de RĂ©insertion Sociale [Shelter and Social Reintegration Centres]. A British organization, Migrant Helpline, contacted it when vulnerable individuals were rejected at Dover in an attempt to enter the UK.
The public authorities were not particularly concerned about the situation at this time, either in the sense of support or of hostility and a repressive response to the migrantsâ presence. It was possible to appeal to existing frameworks of common law or support for foreigners.
Certain situations were particularly complex, such as that of individuals rejected by the UK whom the French authorities refused to readmit to French territory. Some people found themselves travelling back and forth on the ferries between the two border controls before their situation was resolved. Since then, agreements on readmission make it obligatory for the country that the person is coming from to readmit them to its territory if they are refused admission to the neighbouring country.
From 1990, with the fall of the Communist regimes, citizens of East European countries were able to travel to EU territory without a visa. However, they were frequently rejected at the UK border, and soon found themselves blocked at Calais. These were often groups travelling by bus, who had to await the return of the bus to go back to their home country. Sometimes several dozen people found themselves sleeping in a ferry terminal, lacking money for a hotel room or the fare home. This situation was not taken into account by either the state services or the municipality.
The opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 created a new underground border between France and the UK. Symbolically, for one section of British opinion, this connection between Great Britain and the continent put an end to British insularity and the security this permitted. The Sangatte protocol, signed in 1991, addressed this concern with a symbolic response. It organized the control of this new border, stipulating that control of entry into the UK would be carried out in France before entering the Tunnel. Symmetrically, French controls would take place in the UK, and this measure had a practical effect in terms of the fluidity of traffic. But it was also the first step in a policy of externalization of UK border control measures on French soil, which would become increasingly asymmetrical. The protocol was supplemented in 1993 by a tripartite agreement between Belgium, France and the UK concerning trains originating in Brussels and using the Channel Tunnel.
1997â1999: a growing attention
From the late 1990s, the two neighbouring states, France and the UK, would increasingly coordinate their response to the situation of migrants blocked or rejected at the UK border.
On 13 October 1997, a group of Roma from the Czech Republic and Slovakia requested asylum from the British authorities. Their application was rejected, and they were returned to France. These forty people then found themselves sleeping in the ferry terminal at Calais. A month later, under pressure from La Belle Ătoile, the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department agreed to requisition a building near the port to accommodate them. It would still take two months for the French and British governments to agree a solution to their administrative situation. Half of the families were authorized to enter the UK and apply for asylum, while the other half made their asylum applications in France.
In 1998 and 1999, the number of people arriving rose sharply, particularly with the war in Kosovo. There would sometimes be up to a hundred people sleeping in the ferry terminal, including a growing number of families. The context at Calais became tougher. The Centres dâHĂ©bergement et de RĂ©insertion Sociale were ever more reticent to accept migrants, as were local hotels, and the voluntary organizations had increasing difficulty in finding places for migrants to stay.
On 23 April 1999, a decree by the prefect banned overnight stays in the ferry terminal, at the request of the Chambre de Commerce et dâIndustrie, which managed the port: âany use of the public sections of the Calais Cross-Channel Terminal for purposes other than the traffic of travellers is FORBIDDENâ. Migrants then had to sleep in the streets and parks of the town, particularly the Parc Saint-Pierre, opposite the town hall.
La Belle Ătoile and the other organizations grouped in the CâSUR (Collectif de Soutien dâUrgence aux RefoulĂ©s [Emergency Migrant Support Collective])1 immediately challenged the authorities on the basis of discussions on the accommodation of migrants that had already been started. A hangar was opened for them on 24 April, with tents inside for sleeping, sanitary facilities, and prefabs for administration and meals. Management of this was handed to La Belle Ătoile. It was only open at night, from 6 pm to 9 am. Initially envisaged to accommodate eighty, it would soon house between 120 and 200, varying from night to night.
On 1 June 1999, the prefect announced that the hangar would close on 4 June. The migrants then once again found themselves sleeping in former blockhouses, abandoned buildings, and parks. The Parc Saint-Pierre became a shantytown. Having tried other means of pressure, the sub-prefect ordered voluntary organizations to stop all assistance, under threat of legal action.
The stand-off between the organizations and the state continued, and following a visit from the prefect to Pas-de-Calais, the interior ministry decided to open three sites of temporary accommodation: an outbuilding of the hospital for families, a holiday centre for individuals in an illegal situation and awaiting expulsion, and a hangar that was used in the construction of the Channel Tunnel for single women and men â located at Sangatte, a commune adjacent to Calais.
This arrangement, opened in a number of stages during the month of August, closed on 31 August 1999. Then there was a return to the blockhouses, public parks, abandoned buildings and waste ground. A new balance of forces came into being between the voluntary organizations and the state. At the beginning of September, the organizations, along with a hundred migrants, tried to reopen the hangar in Calais that had been opened and then closed some months earlier. The attempt failed, and those involved...
