15th July 2009
Dear Sir/Madam
Re: Migrant camps to be destroyed in Calais, mass charter deportations to Afghanistan – Widespread human rights abuses imminent
Following the announcement that the destruction of migrant camps in Calais will take place from 20th July, 2009 and news that mass deportations to Afghanistan are being chartered, we are writing to you to urge you to take immediate action to avert this crisis, in whichever form is appropriate to your organisation. We have prepared a statement, below, which we are asking groups and individuals to sign but also use as a basis for immediate campaign action.
“According to humanitarian groups in Calais, (see statement below) up to 2000 individuals in the Calais region of northern France are under imminent threat gross violations of human rights because of their status as migrants. Following the announcement on 6th July, 2009 of a joint Anglo-French agreement for £15 million [1] to strengthen the French UK border, humanitarian groups in France have been notified that an official date, this Monday 20th July, 2009, has been set by French authorities to clear and destroy the makeshift camps that migrants have been forced to live in in already appalling conditions.[2] This will fundamentally affect these people’s right to safety and will undoubtedly traumatize and destroy the few possessions that they have. Official plans for people once their dwellings have been destroyed are still unclear but we are informed Salaam Association, Calais that proceedings have begun by the French government as part of the Franco-British Agreement to charter mass deportation flights [3] to Kabul. While UK immigration Minister Phil Woolas boasts of a “ring of steel that protects Britain,” there are many individuals in Calais who are simply seeking safety and are trapped by a European immigration policy that is denying basic human rights. Without urgent intervention that there is very real threat of mass refoulement [4] of asylum seekers back to countries of origin from which they have fled and where they could face torture, imprisonment and in some cases death.
In the wake of the clearance of migrant camps in Patras, Greece and in Paris we believe that strong condemnation of these plans and independent observers and monitors in Calais are urgently required. We demand the immediate cessation of any attempts to clear and destroy refugee camps as well as plans to deport migrants who have a right to seek asylum in Europe.”
Signed:
Laura Maragoudaki, Alice Cutler, Calais Witnesses [5] Joyce Canaan, Stop Deportation Network, Bristol No Borders, Manchester No Borders, Eve Willmott, (Supporter Care Team
Amnesty International UK), Vicky Gray, Rebecca Soliman, Assumpcio Oyonate Cladellas
Freelance language teacher, Susan Cole, Joseph Rigby, Lancaster, UK, Katharine Shephard, Sue Scott (Bristol Refugee Rights), The Trade Union and Community Campaign Against Immigration Controls, Amanda Sebestyen, Jenny Lansdell, Chris Jones, Sue Smailes, Sharon Krummel, Galasi Michele (Italy), Clare Baker, Gretel Scott, Maria Clare, Mark Brown (London), Jennifer Vernison (Liverpool, UK), Ann Brook, James Ramsey, Chiara Lauvergnac, (London, No Borders Network), Ken Loach,
Notes:
[1] The UK has promised France £15m for border protection in return for help deporting immigrants http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8136059.stm
[1] On 4 July 2009, in her article for the Guardian newspaper, Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, wrote: “The conditions for the migrants in Calais are atrocious. They are camped on waste ground and in squatted houses in the town, they queue each day for soup kitchens provided by local volunteers, and have little access to facilities as basic as running water. Included in this group are unaccompanied children. It is to all our shame that they are left to live in such appalling circumstances.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jul/04/migrants-calais
[2] On 5 November 2008, the UK and French governments’ attempts to carry out a mass deportation to Afghanistan through a joint charter flight were overruled by the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that the operation would violate article 4 of the European Declaration on Human Rights, which forbids the “collective expulsion of foreigners”, 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”. In an open letter to then interior minister Brice Hortefeux, MEP Hélène Flautre highlighted the risk that the repatriations would entail as “irreparable”, referring back to the recent case of an Afghan, Mohammed Hussain, who was repatriated by Australia and ended up being kidnapped, tortured and finally beheaded.
[3] The 1951 Refugee Convention prohibits the return of refugees “in any manner whatsoever” to places where their life or freedom would be threatened [otherwise referred to as Article 33; the nonrefoulement provision of the Refugee Convention]. As explained by the UK House of Lords, “Article 33 can be breached indirectly as well as directly. Thus for a country to return a refugee to a state from which he/she will then be returned by the government of that state to a territory where his/her life or freedom will be threatened will be as much a breach of Article 33 as if the first country had itself returned him there direct.”
Many of the migrants in Calais will have travelled overland through Greece or Italy, where they will have had their fingerprints taken. Under the Dublin II convention they would be removed to Greece or Italy on claiming asylum in France or the UK. The likelihood of an Iraqi getting asylum in Greece is 0% (UNHCR, 2007). http://www.unhcr.org/protect/PROTECTION/47302b6c2.pdf Therefore they are being denied their right to seek protection. Crossing a border without the right papers is not illegal if you are doing so to claim asylum.
In addition, the Greek government frequently carry out non-official forcible returns from Greece to Turkey. Most take place under cover of darkness across the Evros River or off the Turkish coast. Pushbacks at sea or on the border do not nullify the nonrefoulement obligation and migrants deported to Greece face a high risk of being forcibly removed to other ‘non-safe’ countries outside the EU. (Human Rights Watch 2008) http://www.hrw.org/en/node/76211/section/14
http://www.refugeeresearch.net/node/197
[4] CALAIS WITNESSES is a network of individuals who work towards supporting rights for refugees and migrants and have first hand experience of witnessing the situation for migrants at the UK- French Border of Calais. Many of the individuals involved have witnessed human rights abuses experienced by migrants trying to reach Britain including police harassment, forced destitution, inhumane and degrading treatment.
ORIGINAL STATEMENT FROM SALAM
DESTRUCTION OF THE JUNGLE ON TUESDAY 21st JULY
According to verified sources we know that the destruction of the jungle announced by Mr Besson before the end of the year 2009 will take place Tuesday 21 July.
The jungle of the Afghan Pashtun will be the first hit, but other jungles also risk being destroyed.
800 places have been “reserved” in different hostels. SALAM has already informed migrants and continues every day its presence alongside them. Everything will be put in place to ensure migrants can exercise their rights and do avoid the charter flight to Kabul. This threat is unfortunately there: after the Evian summit of the 6th July agreements have been signed with the British government deciding to organise forced deportations between France and Britain (who regularly organise
charter flights to Kabul). Last November, 2 charter flights to Afghanistan were cancelled thanks to the
mobilisation of all. SALAM calls out to all: DONT LET THIS CHARTER OF DEATH LEAVE
For any information:
www.associationsalam.org
Sylvie COPYANS 06.26.38.66.19
Vincent LENOIR 06.12.52.53.72
