News / France

French court OKs Calais refugee camp evictions

Thursday, 25 February 2016 11:50 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 25 February 2016 11:59 PM ]

Refugees walk under the rain beside makeshift sheds in the so-called "Jungle" migrant camp in the port of Calais in northern France on February 24, 2016. ©AFP

A court in France has given the go-ahead to a plan to evict some 1,000 people from the refugee camp, nicknamed the “Jungle,” on the outskirts of the northern port of Calais.

The court in Lille, a city lying likewise in the north, upheld the decision by the administration on Thursday and said the expulsion process would be carried out over the next three weeks.

The refugees at the camp have been told to remove their makeshift homes and personal effects by next Tuesday or face forcible expulsion.

Upon expelling the refugees, the government will raze the part of the camp, which lies next to a motorway leading to the port, where there have been clashes with police forces.

"There's already one part that was cleared. We will continue slowly, regularly and we can hope that in one month, maybe a bit more [the process will be over], but we will manage all together," said regional prefect Fabienne Buccio.

Last month, Buccio announced plans to move the people to heated shipping containers elsewhere in the camp and centers around France.

Eight associations working in the camp, including Doctors of the World, have warned that the alternative accommodation does not amount to decent temporary residence for the refugees, many of whom fleeing bloodshed in Syria and Iraq.

A man uses a mobile phone in the "Jungle" refugee camp in the port of Calais, northern France, on February 25, 2016. ©AFP

Around 6,000 refugees are currently living in and around Calais. Most of them wait for an opportunity to cross the English Channel into the United Kingdom.

Europe has been facing its biggest refugee influx since World War II. The crisis, which has notably strained the continent's refugee resettlement policies, saw more than a million asylum seekers flooding it over the past year.

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