UvA Final Assignment: Policy Paper

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Migration & Integration course at the University of Amsterdam.

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POLICY PAPER: THE MIGRANT SITUATION IN CALAIS

Delivered to the mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart

OVERVIEW

Calais’ geographic proximity to the UK has made it the preferred departure point for crossing the English Channel from the European continent for both ‘regular’ and ‘irregular’ travellers alike. This has been illustrated by the success of the city’s neighbouring port, the development of the Channel Tunnel nearby and the fluctuating presence of migrants wishing to enter the United Kingdom. Over the past thirty years, the visibility of these migrants passing through Calais has increased significantly in politics and in the media. This has coincided with increased securitisation of the national border between the UK and France. This has resulted in a bottleneck, which in 2015, led to the formation of the so-called ‘new Jungle’, which saw over 10000 migrants confined to a former landfill site towards the periphery of the city. Although the camp was demolished only one year later, it has made a lasting impact on the city’s public image (Refugee Rights Europe, 2018). Today, there is still a significant migrant presence despite concerted efforts by both the national and municipal governments to suppress it. This has led to a growing humanitarian crisis at the border.

CONTEXT

Following the demolition of the 2015-2016 ‘Jungle’, the French government implemented a zero-tolerance policy on migrant ‘fixation points’. However, deterrence strategies involving the intimidation and harassment of migrants, and bans on the provision of aid have not been effective in deterring people from coming to Calais (Human Rights Observers, 2019). Since 2016, the number of migrants has not decreased significantly. At any given time, there is still an estimated one thousand migrants living around Calais (Refugee Rights Europe, 2018). Rather than eradicate the ‘problem’ as the government intended, the zero-tolerance policy has, in fact, compounded the issue. Efforts to make invisible the migrant population have instead forced them onto the streets. A survey conducted by a group of aid organisations in Calais, La Voix Commune, illustrated that of 601 Calaisiens surveyed, an estimated 76% believe that the NGO presence in the city is necessary. Meanwhile, around 71% are dissatisfied with how the migrant situation has developed over the years. When asked whether they believed the national government was moving in the right direction with their management of the situation, 59% of respondents answered, ‘Definitely not’ and another 25% responded ‘Probably not’ (La Voix du Nord, 2021). Increased securitisation and militarisation have not only made life difficult for the migrants in Calais but has also made the city a much less pleasant place to live for its local residents.

FINANCIAL CONTEXT

Previously a manufacturing hub for textiles such as lace and tulle, Calais has a rich industrial past. However, during the 20th Century, the city experienced post-industrial decline. In 2017, the city recorded an unemployment rate of about 27.6%, over twice the national average (Journal Dunet, 2017). Furthermore, although very successful in their own rights, the Port and the Channel Tunnel have instead drawn trade and traffic away from Calais through their direct connections onto motorways leading further inland, resulting in a decline in tourism and investment in the city (Heddebaut, 2001). Between 2015-2020, the French government committed a total of €155 million to support the economy, boost employment, facilitate urban/infrastructural development, and promote sustainability (Hauts-de-France, 2017). In 2019, a further €24.5 million was earmarked to be invested, over a period of eight years, into the Calais Dragon project, a cultural-touristic attraction at the Calais seaside (Railane & Escaillet, 2019). Meanwhile, over the past decade, Calais has also received financial aid from the UK, who contribute significantly to the securitisation and management of the border. It is estimated that the UK government spent over €300 million on border security in northern France between 2010 and 2018 (Akkerman, 2019; Goodhart & Norrie, 2018). This was followed by a pledge of €31.4 million in 2020 (GOV.UK, 2020) and a further pledge of €62.7 million in 2021 (GOV.UK, 2021).

POLICY ALTERNATIVES

1. Lobby the central government to end the zero-tolerance policy on ‘fixation points’.

The results of the survey conducted by La Voix Commune indicate that there may be broad dissatisfaction with the national government’s handling of the migrant situation. As illustrated above, the ‘zero-tolerance’ policy has forced migrants into destitution, which, in turn, has severely damaged the city’s image. It is therefore necessary to adopt a new approach to the migrant presence. Any new approach should respect and uphold the migrants’ rights to dignified housing and shelter, protection from degrading treatment, social protection to preserve dignity, as well as access to medical and psychological care and emergency healthcare, as detailed in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (2012).

It is estimated that housing an asylum seeker in a reception centre in France costs on average €8792.85 per year (European Migration Network, 2017). Therefore, it can be estimated that supporting the one thousand migrants in Calais would cost around €8.7 million per year. This figure pales in comparison to the funds being pledged yearly by the UK government to the securitisation and militarisation of the border. By diverting funds earmarked for the deployment of CRS and Gendarmerie units in eviction operations towards the provision of dignity and support, Calais could also serve to improve its own public image, attracting tourism and investment.

2. Open a Maison des Réfugiés [Refugee House] in Calais to act as a local support and community hub for migrants.

Amidst the rise of so-called ‘sanctuary cities’ in Europe, cities who have begun programmes of migrant support often at odds with national policy (Kaufmann, 2019), the city of Paris has opened its first Maison des Réfugiés in the 14tharrondissement. Run by the NGO Emmaus Solidarité, it is a place of welcome/reception and orientation housing a performance space, co-working space, a charity shop, and a community kitchen, and accessible to citizens and migrants regardless of status (Maison des Refugiés, 2021). The Maison will be moved to its permanent home in the 19th arrondissement as part of a new public library currently under construction at a cost of €13 million (Atelier Phillippe Madec, 2018). The city of Paris’ has shown that it is indeed possible, with political will, to introduce long-term investments into support hubs for migrants. The new Maison also demonstrates that the needs of local residents can and should be addressed at the same time. Calais’ municipal government should study and seek to emulate this model of migrant support.

3. Relax restrictions on the right to work and promote the education and training of migrants.

Currently, due to their undocumented status, migrants in Calais are not permitted to work. The municipality of Calais should lobby the French government to relax restrictions on the right to work by allowing migrants to work and receive renumeration for their labour. This would reduce the dependency of migrants on public services and therefore reduce the overall cost of support. Furthermore, it would allow them to reinvest into the local economy. Employers could be incentivised to take on migrants through subsidies or tax breaks. Meanwhile, the formation of workers’ cooperatives should be encouraged to ensure the protection of migrants’ labour rights. The local government should support the provision short-term education and training for migrants in languages and sought-after skills. These programmes could be twinned with re-training programmes for local residents to alleviate unemployment.

4. Establish cultural/educational spaces to celebrate human movement through Calais.

Much of Calais history and identity is built on human movement and transit through its city bounds: English conquerors and migrants in the 13th Century turned the small fishing town into an established trading port (Tombs, 2016); Huguenot réfugiés used the city to flee persecution by the French Catholic government during the 17th Century (Merriam-Webster, 2017), as did French émigrés fleeing the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution (Morieux, 2016, p. 296); British immigrants in the 19th Century established what would become the flourishing lace and tulle industry (Bensimon, 2011); and today, tourists and trade from all over the world pass through the city’s adjacent Channel Tunnel and port. Cultural/educational spaces such as a museum of human movement could serve not only to educate the public about Calais’ historic position as a place of transit, but also to give migrants currently in the city a voice. Furthermore, shared spaces of cultural exchange and education could allow migrants and the local community to interact and mix.

5. Lobby the UK and French governments to establish a safe route to the UK.

This report has illustrated that the current policies of deterrence are not only unsuccessful in their aim to reduce the number of migrants passing through Calais and crossing the Channel, but have also made the situation worse resulting in migrants living in destitute, inhumane conditions. It is in the interests of the city of Calais and its residents to campaign and lobby against this practice and push, instead, for the establishment of a safe route to the United Kingdom for those seeking to cross the Channel. In doing so, the market for smuggling would be diminished allowing governments to reduce the operations of human traffickers. The UK government has already begun to investigate the possibility of off-shoring the asylum claims process onto places such as St Helena, Ascension Island and Gibraltar (Grierson & Walker, 2021). In order to provide a safe route across the Channel, the expansion of current juxtaposed border control protocols could allow migrants to claim asylum in Calais. Asylum seekers could be accommodated in Calais through a programme incorporating policy alternatives 1-4, funded, in part by the UK government.

OVERVIEW OF ALTERNATIVES

This report has presented a broad range of alternative policies pursuable by the city of Calais. The guiding principle for many of these options is the diversion of current securitisation and policing funds towards accommodation and support programmes promoting agency and dignity. It must be acknowledged that policies on the management of migration are, in France, a national prerogative. However, these national policies have a profound impact on the daily lives of not only the migrants, but also the local residents of cities such as Calais. Lobbying the national government to repeal the zero-tolerance policy on migrant ‘fixation points’ is of the highest priority. Meanwhile, the opening of a Maison des Réfugiés would present not only, a radical departure from current practice, but also a direct challenge to the State. However, this is a direction which is gaining traction in European cities, not least in neighbouring Paris. Furthermore, education, training and the right to work are instrumental to enabling migrants to become productive, contributing members of Calaisien society, even if only temporarily. This has the added benefit of reducing the cost of migrant support. Calais has, also, an opportunity to reshape its image to reflect is heritage as a place of transit. Cultural spaces celebrating human movement would shift the narrative towards a fostering a sense of belonging for even those who are only momentarily passing through. Lastly, the most radical alternative, which would reject the current positions of the French and UK governments, would push for the establishment of a safe route to the UK, through an Anglo-French agreement allowing asylum seekers to undergo the asylum claims process in Calais. The success of any of these policy alternatives would be contingent on an understanding and acceptance of the volatile and fluctuating nature of forced displacement. The migrant population could fluctuate significantly, either in anticipation of these alternative measures or due to completely unrelated, coincidental factors. Before implementing any of these policy alternatives, the city of Calais would need to make preparations to receive and house a significant increase in the migrant population, learning from the mistakes of previous decades, by ensuring adequate dignified housing arrangements, educating the public and involving NGOs at the beginning of the planning process. This would serve not to scare the public, but to prevent the shock and unpreparedness that led to the failure of previous State interventions.

RISKS

The issue of migrants and migration is particularly sensitive in the United Kingdom and, by extension, the city of Calais. For centuries, the integrity Great Britain’s borders have been crucial to every debate to do with its relationship to the European continent, from constructing the Channel Tunnel, to joining the European Economic Community, to Brexit. As such, over the past three decades, much of the media has mobilised against the migrants stuck on the other side of the English Channel, stoking fears of ‘invasion’, ‘floods’ and other threats (Berry, et al., 2015). In recent years, the UK government has openly exploited these fears. Any policy proposal seeming to act in the favour of migrants could risk being portrayed as a ‘pull factor’ and will likely result in a backlash from the British public, media, and authorities. Meanwhile, at home, policy alternatives that directly contravene French national policy would likely draw backlash from the State. In implementing these alternative policies, the city of Calais would also have to contend with a response from the far-right, one which could result in violence and further put migrants at risk. Nonetheless, the city of Calais cannot ethically allow current practices to continue. Doing nothing will only further drive migrants into precarity and destitution, with no foreseeable benefits to the city’s own citizens.

CONCLUSION

Recent history has seen the city of Calais fall into a state of decline, exasperated by the negative media image generated by the municipal and national responses to the migrant presence. Thus far, the management of the migrant situation has largely been driven by the national agenda and a proclaimed intolerance of those without legal status. The rise of the ‘sanctuary city’ in Europe and the precedent set by cities such as Paris, give Calais the impetus to forge a new direction in the treatment of the migrants within its city limits, one which would also bring benefits to its own citizens. This paper highlights just some of the alternatives the city of Calais could pursue, of varying urgency and to varying degrees of radicality. But each one is grounded in and draws from the city’s proud heritage as a place of mobility, transit and human movement.

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