France puts roofs over heads of migrants living in sodden Calais camp

Record ID: 119818

  • Title: France puts roofs over heads of migrants living in sodden Calais camp
  • Date: 11th January 2016
  • Summary: CALAIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 11, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TENTS NEXT TO WHITE SHIPPING CONTAINERS IN THE MIGRANT CAMP DUBBED THE "JUNGLE" TENT BLOWING IN WIND NEXT TO PUDDLE OF WATER FILLED WITH RUBBISH MAN WALKING NEXT TO TENTS IN CAMP, WITH WHITE SHIPPING CONTAINER SHELTERS BEHIND VARIOUS OF SHIPPING CONTAINERS, WHICH WILL SERVE AS MIGRANT SHELTERS HAND GRABBING KEYS TO SHELTER FROM PILE VARIOUS OF AID WORKER SHOWING FEMALE MIGRANT AND CHILD INSIDE OF SHELTER, WHERE THEY WILL BE LIVING SHELTERS VARIOUS OF BUNK BEDS AND BABY CRIBS INSIDE SHELTER VARIOUS OF FEMALE MIGRANT VISITING SHELTER FEMALE MIGRANT SEEN THROUGH SHELTER WINDOW (SOUNDBITE) (French) PREFECT FOR THE PAS-DE-CALAIS REGION IN FRANCE, FABIENNE BUCCIO, SAYING: "It's a temporary reception facility with 1,500 places -- meaning 125 containers, each of them able to hold 12 people. The containers, which you will be able to see before the families arrive, are tailored differently. For single men, there's a certain organization, for families, the organization is adapted. In addition to these containers, you have some courtyards, for example there one is at the entrance. They're outdoor spaces where they can charge their phones. There are also three common areas." FABIENNE BUCCIO DURING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) PREFECT FOR THE PAS-DE-CALAIS REGION IN FRANCE, FABIENNE BUCCIO, SAYING: "So yes indeed, for us these are only temporary spaces, because once there is an asylum application (made by migrants), there is another registration system through the reception centre for asylum seekers (CADA), then step by step, depending on the status of their file, a possible integration into French society. So, all this is temporary, it's a stop-off point leading to integration." AID WORKER LEADING MALE MIGRANT AND CHILD TO SHELTER VARIOUS OF MIGRANT FAMILIES ARRIVING TO VISIT SHELTER VARIOUS OF SHELTERS GRAFFITI ON TENT READING (English): "JUNGLE" VARIOUS OF "JUNGLE" MIGRANT CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (English) AN AFGHAN MIGRANT, WHO DID NOT GIVE HIS NAME, SAYING: "There is a registration and they take the fingerprints and it's not an open camp, you know, it's like a prison. When you go you have to put your fingerprints or something from your hands to enter there. It's not looking like a camp, it's looking like a prison, you know. No one will be happy to go in the prison by their own choice." VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN IN "JUNGLE" MIGRANT CAMP VARIOUS OF MIGRANT CAMP
  • Embargoed: 26th January 2016 17:18
  • Keywords: France migrants Calais Jungle camp shelters
  • Location: CALAIS, FRANCE
  • City: CALAIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0013ZLY8G7
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The French port city of Calais opened its first migrant shelters on Monday night (January 11), which will house 1,500 migrants previously living in squalor in the makeshift camp nicknamed "the Jungle."
    The 125 shelters, which look like re-purposed white shipping containers with windows, will each house up to 12 people, said Fabienne Buccio, the prefect for the Pas-de-Calais region in northern France.
    "It's a temporary reception facility with 1,500 places -- meaning 125 containers, each of them able to hold 12 people. The containers, which you will be able to see before the families arrive, are tailored differently. For single men, there's a certain organization, for families, the organization is adapted. In addition to these containers, you have some courtyards, for example there one is at the entrance. They're outdoor spaces where they can charge their phones. There are also three common areas," she told journalists at a news conference before the shelters opened their doors.
    Each shelter is heated and wired with electricity, and will provide a temporary home for asylum-seekers as they wait for their files to be processed, Buccio said.
    "So yes indeed, for us these are only temporary spaces, because once there is an asylum application (made by migrants), there is another registration system through the reception centre for asylum seekers (CADA), then step by step, depending on the status of their file, a possible integration into French society. So, all this is temporary, it's a stop-off point leading to integration," she said.
    The sterile white containers provide a stark contrast to the squalid "Jungle" camp, whose tents are home to around 4,000 migrants, according to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture.
    The camp has been hit hard by winter rain, which has turned the ground into mud and created puddles that gather piles of rubbish.
    But some migrants living in the camp say they prefer the open-air camp to the "prison-like" shelters.
    "There is a registration and they take the fingerprints and it's not an open camp, you know, it's like a prison. When you go you have to put your fingerprints or something from your hands to enter there. It's not looking like a camp, it's looking like a prison, you know. No one will be happy to go in the prison by their own choice," said an Afghan migrant who asked not to be named.
    More than 1 million refugees and migrants came to the European Union in 2015, half of which were Syrians fleeing the war, according to the U.N.
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