The Calais Jungle was a refugee and migrant camp in the vicinity of Calais, France in use from January 2015 to October 2016. This camp is an example of the ongoing issue of Migrants around Calais who attempt to enter the UK via the Port of Calais or the Eurotunnel by stowing away on lorries, ferries, cars, or trains travelling to the UK. The camp gained global attention during the peak of the European migrant crisis in 2015 when the population of the camp rapidly grew and French authorities began carrying out evictions. Some 6,400 migrants were evacuated from the encampment in 170 buses in October 2016, with the intent of resettling them in different regions of France. On 26 October 2016, French authorities announced that the camp had been cleared. As of 26 July 2017 Human Rights Watch has published a report called “Like Living Hell” documenting the continuing human rights abuses by the police against children and adult migrants in the region.
‘The camp has existed in one form or another since 1999, when a migrant reception centre was set up by the Red Cross. Since then, it has grown, been razed, risen again and changed location on numerous occasions. What is now generally referred to as the Jungle occupies a large tract of land about two miles east of the port of Calais and next to the motorway – immediately obvious to anyone embarking on a journey by ferry between Calais and Dover.’
‘Over the past 17 years, the French authorities have been hostile to the presence of the camps, and have made several attempts to shut them down for good – to no avail. The latest court order allows for an area the prefecture claims to be home to 1,000 people (charity Help Refugees puts the figure at 3,455) to be demolished. It is the latest salvo in the long-running battle between the state and the migrants.’
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