Skip to main content
France - Migration

New refugee camp opens in northern France

France opened its first international-standard refugee camp in the teeth of official opposition on Monday while demolition continued at the nearby Calais "Jungle" camp. Three families of Iraqi Kurds were the first to arrive at the new camp in Grande-Synthe near Dunkirk on the northern French coast.

The new Grand-Synthe refugee camp in northern France
The new Grand-Synthe refugee camp in northern France MSF/Twitter
Advertising

They came from another site nearby where around 1,000 people have been living in miserable conditions with limited protection from the cold.

The new camp, featuring some 200 heated wooden cabins and proper toilets and showers, has been built by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) with the support of the local town hall, despite opposition from the French government.

The 3.1 million euro ($3.4 million) migrant accommodation is thought to be the first in France to meet international standards, and MSF said they hoped soon to have 375 cabins, catering for 2,500 people.

"It's a great day for human solidarity," said local mayor Damien Careme, who fought a battle with the authorities.

"I've overcome a failure of the state," he said, adding that he could no longer stand the sight of around 75 children living in the original camp.

The move has frustrated the government which has been trying to move refugees away from the northern coast and into centres where their movement is more controlled.

The government's representative in northern France, Jean-Francois Cordet, said last month: "The government's policy is not to reconstitute a camp at Grande-Synthe, but to make it go away."

The authorities began a second week of demolition at the region's largest refugee camp, nicknamed the "Jungle", in nearby Calais on Monday.

Thousands of migrants have been living in the Jungle and other smaller camps along the northern coast, desperate to reach Britain where many have family or community ties and see better hopes of gaining employment or education.

Most have turned down offers from the French government to move into heated containers alongside the Jungle, or into accommodation centres elsewhere in France.

 

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.