Only God can judge me
Refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, and Eritrea steadily descend on a migrant camp in the French coastal town of Calais. They hope to gain entry to the UK, just 21 miles away across the English Channel. Their presence has become a thorny political issue in France and UK. For many of those in Calais, the risks, which include suffocation in the backs of trucks, falling from moving vehicles and violence in migrant camps, are worth taking for a chance of entering the British system. First time I went to document the life of migrants in French port of Calais in December 2014. It was estimated 3,000 refugees living there in makeshift camps across the area in harsh winter conditions typically without proper sanitary or washing facilities and accommodation consisting of tents and improvised shelters. Food was supplied by charity soup kitchens. The French authorities have faced a dilemma of the need to address a humanitarian crisis without making conditions so attractive that more migrants arrive. In July 2015 I went to see migrants for the second time. The previous Jungle was demolished and migrants moved to across the road to set up another camp. This jungle for the first time had showers, electricity and toilets, plus one hot meal served per day, but without proper accommodation. The camps themselves are also dangerous, particularly for women, with a volatile mix of desperate young men of different nationalities, drinking, and violence. In January 2015, the French government opened the Jules Ferry day centre for migrants at Calais, in a former children’s holiday camp. It provides overnight accommodation for 600 women and children but does not accept men. There are now 5,000 migrants in Calais, the French authorities estimate.
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