Calais Brutality Continues Despite Weather
Today temperatures are plunging back below freezing, and there is widespread fear that the region will be soon hit by snow. The authorities have announced they will open more shelters for children and women, and keep open the small number of spaces for men. Out on our emergency distributions of warm clothing, our volunteers have been translating the announcements for the refugees we meet. Many people told us today that the problem with the shelters is that they cannot take their tents with them, and if they go, the police come to the sites and confiscate those tents. Today during …
The Significance of the Refugee Deaths at Wimeraux
Tonight at the vigil for the five young Syrians who died at Wimereux on Sunday, I met the brother of one the people who was lost. He is still shocked and numb, disbelieving that the journey they made together has ended like this, in horror just 20 miles from their destination. He is in his twenties, now left alone in Calais – the rest of his family are still in Syria. His brother was 14 years old. In the biting cold and dark, you could feel how Sunday’s tragedy, together with numerous other rescues and near-fatalities along the coast, has …
Channel Tragedy: We Can and Must Do Better
On November 24th, 2021, a group of people – each unique and dearly loved – slowly froze to death in the icy waters of the English Channel while waiting for a rescue that never came. Twenty-seven bodies were recovered and four are still missing, adding to the pain of the families – twenty-one men, seven women including one who was pregnant, and three children. Today, two years on from this tragedy, we remember and honour them, alongside many more precious lives lost on dangerous journeys to the UK – we may never know exactly how many. On that catastrophic …
John and Bato’s story
“The militia came to my village at midnight. They all had guns, and I saw them shoot people. They shoot people for nothing. When I saw that I realised my life was nothing to them, that I was nothing. That’s why we had to leave.” John, the South Sudanese refugee on the left in the photograph, told me this story at a distribution of bags and chargers one afternoon in Dunkirk. He seemed sad as he remembered home and how he had left with his friend Bato (right) to escape to the UK. As two young men , they knew …
Our legal challenge to Government segregation of asylum seekers
Since July 2023, this Government has been housing asylum seekers in prison-like conditions. At former RAF base in Wethersfield, Essex, they are • surrounded by security fences • monitored with 24/7 surveillance by on-site security guards and CCTV • prevented from leaving except by an infrequent bus service • kept on a remote site with no pedestrian access or public transport This is a form of segregation. Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, is obliged by law to ‘provide accommodation that ‘ensures a standard of living adequate for the health of the claimants and capable of ensuring their subsistence’. At Wethersfield …
Female refugee tragically dies on Calais beach
A 24-year-old woman from Eritrea has been found dead on a beach in Calais. It is thought she suffered a heart attack after the most horrific suffering during an attempted Channel crossing. Her husband, who was with her, told French reporters that the woman was trampled while in the boat. While unconscious, she was lifted out of the boat and dropped in the sea. Her husband leapt in after her, and brought her back to the beach. However emergency services were unable to revive her. Another refugee who can come ashore was also treated. Recently boats attempting to cross the …
Why is the Home Office is making refugees homeless?
This week I’ve seen something happening in my city that I’ve never seen before. I’ve supported refugees here in my home of Liverpool for years. I’ve begged, borrowed and robbed my friends and relatives for essential stuff. I’ve helped countless people who were in desperate need. Over that time my fellow Care4Calais volunteers and I have gotten a good sense of what’s most needed here. And today, we’ve realised that for the first time, the thing we’re going to need most is tents for people to live in. It is shocking. It is abhorrent. It’s the reality of life under …
When exactly was the bacteria discovered on the barge?
Tonight the UK government has serious questions to answer about the Bibby Stockholm barge. This morning, it emerged that unsafe levels of Legionella pneumophila bacteria had been found in the barge’s water supply. If droplets of water containing this bacteria are inhaled, it can cause Legionnaire’s disease, which has a mortality rate of 10-80 per cent, depending on the health of the sufferer. Because of this risk, everyone on the barge should have been evacuated immediately. However this did not happen. At lunchtime we were contacted by three men on the barge who had not been informed of the outbreak, …
Panic and fear now gripping refugees in Calais
Today in Calais I talked to Ali, a 20-year-old refugee who was so confused and frightened by the news from the UK that it broke my heart. Ali had spent all weekend reading about the Illegal Migration Bill becoming law. “Why doesn’t the UK want me?” He asked. “Why don’t they understand?” Ali fled Sudan when his family were killed, and he knew he would be killed too if the militia found him. All he wants is to be safe. But now he’s in an impossible situation. In France, the police take his tent every few days. He …
Shon, the refugee learning to fly – literally
Shon, a refugee from Kenya who came to the UK with nothing after a traumatic journey from Africa, is now learning to fly – literally. Shon dreamed of being a pilot when he was a little boy growing up in Kenya. After leaving education there he worked in cyber security, and then had to flee to the UK. His dream went hold for a while, as he felt “very down” when he arrived, but then he met a wonderful Care4Calais volunteer called Pauline. “Pauline encouraged to believe in the future again. Without her, I would not have been able to …