UK Green MEPs Urge Halt To ‘Inhumane’ Mass Deportation Plan
UK Green MEPs, Caroline Lucas and Jean Lambert | 17.07.2009 14:10 | Iraq | Migration
British and French governments’ plot to deport asylum seekers back to Afghanistan and Iraq breaks EU human rights law, say MEPs in letter to European Commission
17 July 2009 - In an urgent letter to the European Commission today, UK Green MEPs Caroline Lucas and Jean Lambert have called for an immediate suspension of plans to deport around 1,800 individuals from the so called ‘Jungle Camp’ in Calais back to Afghanistan and Iraq next week (1).
Writing to Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner Jacques Barrot, the Green MEPs warn that the planned action, which is being taken jointly by the French and British authorities under the Evian Agreement, would be in direct breach of EU and international law on human rights and refugees.
Thousands of refugees and migrants from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq or Somalia are currently camped outside Calais in a squalid tented area known as ‘The Jungle’. Around a fifth of them are thought to be children, living in desperate and dangerous conditions, where people are forced to sleep rough with little access to sanitation or resources.
In a joint statement, Caroline Lucas MEP and Jean Lambert MEP said:
“We urge the Commission to take immediate action to prevent next week’s deportations – and to ensure that the French authorities fulfil their responsibilities under both EU and international law, including improving conditions for those living in the camps at Calais.
“The threatened mass deportations ride roughshod over the European Convention on Human Rights, the 1951 Refugee Convention and the Geneva Convention. And given that so many of those facing expulsion are children, the plans may also breach the terms of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“The vast majority of refugees in ‘The Jungle’ have had no contact whatsoever with official authorities since entering the EU. We are deeply concerned that there is a risk of deportation before these individuals have been interviewed in order to determine whether they are seeking asylum and are, therefore, protected by EU asylum law.”
Caroline Lucas MEP commented:
“Many migrants into France and the UK are fleeing from the consequences of the West’s foreign policy mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Given this reality, you might imagine these governments would take their responsibilities to the international community more seriously.
“It is unacceptable that vulnerable people from some of the most troubled countries in the world be treated so inhumanely on European soil. Many residents in the camps are genuine asylum-seekers and not illegal immigrants. It is important that those people fleeing persecution and war have free access to the correct information so that they know they can make a genuine claim for asylum.
“At present, these individuals are at the mercy of ruthless traffickers who make impossible promises for significant profit. The presence of hundreds of children in the makeshift refugee camps is particularly distressing. Yet the French authorities would rather pretend they did not exist.”
Jean Lambert MEP said:
“The situation at Calais is a mess and short-term solutions won’t work. At the very minimum, we must provide dignity and health care to those in need, creating the space to look at more long term solutions. These solutions must be anchored in human rights and respect for international conventions.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
(1) A previous attempt at a mass deportation was overruled by the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that the operation would contravene the European Declaration on Human Rights, as well as the trilateral agreement signed in 2002 by UNHCR with the Afghan and French governments, which stipulates that "the return of Afghans who do not enjoy protection... will be carried out in a gradual, ordered and humane way".
Writing to Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner Jacques Barrot, the Green MEPs warn that the planned action, which is being taken jointly by the French and British authorities under the Evian Agreement, would be in direct breach of EU and international law on human rights and refugees.
Thousands of refugees and migrants from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq or Somalia are currently camped outside Calais in a squalid tented area known as ‘The Jungle’. Around a fifth of them are thought to be children, living in desperate and dangerous conditions, where people are forced to sleep rough with little access to sanitation or resources.
In a joint statement, Caroline Lucas MEP and Jean Lambert MEP said:
“We urge the Commission to take immediate action to prevent next week’s deportations – and to ensure that the French authorities fulfil their responsibilities under both EU and international law, including improving conditions for those living in the camps at Calais.
“The threatened mass deportations ride roughshod over the European Convention on Human Rights, the 1951 Refugee Convention and the Geneva Convention. And given that so many of those facing expulsion are children, the plans may also breach the terms of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“The vast majority of refugees in ‘The Jungle’ have had no contact whatsoever with official authorities since entering the EU. We are deeply concerned that there is a risk of deportation before these individuals have been interviewed in order to determine whether they are seeking asylum and are, therefore, protected by EU asylum law.”
Caroline Lucas MEP commented:
“Many migrants into France and the UK are fleeing from the consequences of the West’s foreign policy mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Given this reality, you might imagine these governments would take their responsibilities to the international community more seriously.
“It is unacceptable that vulnerable people from some of the most troubled countries in the world be treated so inhumanely on European soil. Many residents in the camps are genuine asylum-seekers and not illegal immigrants. It is important that those people fleeing persecution and war have free access to the correct information so that they know they can make a genuine claim for asylum.
“At present, these individuals are at the mercy of ruthless traffickers who make impossible promises for significant profit. The presence of hundreds of children in the makeshift refugee camps is particularly distressing. Yet the French authorities would rather pretend they did not exist.”
Jean Lambert MEP said:
“The situation at Calais is a mess and short-term solutions won’t work. At the very minimum, we must provide dignity and health care to those in need, creating the space to look at more long term solutions. These solutions must be anchored in human rights and respect for international conventions.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
(1) A previous attempt at a mass deportation was overruled by the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that the operation would contravene the European Declaration on Human Rights, as well as the trilateral agreement signed in 2002 by UNHCR with the Afghan and French governments, which stipulates that "the return of Afghans who do not enjoy protection... will be carried out in a gradual, ordered and humane way".
UK Green MEPs, Caroline Lucas and Jean Lambert
e-mail:
carolinepress@greenmeps.org.uk
Homepage:
http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk; www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk
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Other things you can do to challenge Calais clearance plans
17.07.2009 15:02
Call out for video activists and legal observers to go to Calais
Letters, calls, emails to MPs and MEPs
Check out all the details at www.calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com
Please act now. We are calling for phone and email blockades of the French Embassy in London; Phil Woolas, UK Immigration Minister; the French Interior Ministry. All contacts at the end of this message.
We are calling for these targets as the UK Border starts in Calais – both the French and British states are implicitly involved in any attacks (legal or otherwise) that are launched against migrants in Calais. As the burning and destruction of the migrant camp at Patras in Greece shows, EU states now have little to fear in their attacks against migrants, as popular support for the far-right in the European elections shows. We need to show them otherwise. Of course, any other direct action is welcomed.
No Borders! No Nations!
French Embassy in London
French Ambassador, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne
From UK 0207 073 1000
Non-UK 44 207 073 1000
58 Knightsbridge, London, SW1 X7J
or ask for police attache Msr Eric Battesti, representative of French poilce in UK working with UK police and immigration
French consulate in London
Tel 0207 073 1200
fax number 0207 073 1201
21 Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2EN
Phil Woolas, Immigration Minister
Constituency address: 11 Church Lane, Oldham, OL1 3AN
Telephone from UK 0161 624 4248
Non-UK 44161 624 4248
Email
Honorary UK Consul in Calais
Telephone from UK 33 321 96 33 76
Fax 33 321 19 43 69
UK Consul General in Lille
Phil Boyle
Telephone from UK 33 320 12 82 72
Fax from UK 33 320 54 88 16
11 Square Dutilleul, 59000, Lille
French Interior Ministry
Place Beauvau 75008, Paris
Within France 01 40 07 60 60
From UK 331 40 07 60 60
calaismigrantsolidarity
Homepage:
http://www.calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com