"An act of wanton barbarism":
Burning of Refugee's Legal Centre in Calais 'Jungle' is Condemned
- "An act of wanton barbarism..." London Councillor & Congolese Refugee, Michelline Ngongo, Islington
- "The fire happened the day after the press conference where we profiled the responsibilities of the French and British Governments..." Marianne Humbersot, Coordinator, Calais Legal Centre, France
- "The attack and burning of the Legal Centre at the Calais Jungle is a shameful assault... to be strongly condemned." Mark George QC, Head of Chambers at Garden Court North, Manchester UK
- "France, as a country that prides itself on democratic values and human rights principles, by permitting this action, is guilty of the same human rights abuses that it attacks other countries for abusing!"International Lawyer, Dr. Esohe Aghatise, Turin, Italy
- "As I was walking in the morning I saw it was burned. I hope they have a plan to make a new centre." Said (not his real name), Afghan interpreter stuck in Calais
Mark George QC, reacted to the news as follows:
"The attack and burning is a shameful assault on the ability of some of the most vulnerable people in Europe to access legal advice about their most basic human rights and, where appropriate, their potential asylum rights in the UK or elsewhere in Europe, and is to be strongly condemned."
RAPAR's current casework includes two young Afghan men, now stuck in the Calais camp after fleeing their homes last summer because of their former employment as interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan (See 27th February 2016 Channel 4 News item : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-i-oxaAyxM). Their UK-based solicitor, Shaista Raja describes how, for all the camp residents, burning their legal centre means;
“these displaced people have been further fended off and denied access to basic legal rights which belong - without presumption or cost of privilege - to all human beings.”
Speaking with RAPAR, the Centre's coordinator Marianne Humbersot, has described the workers suffering “many intimidations over the last weeks”,going on to point out that the fire occurred the day after their press conference profiling “the responsibilities of the French and British Governments towards protecting minors; police violence against migrants; and the tragic conditions created through the expulsions of people from the southern zone.”
For MEP Julie Ward, who first visited the camp in December last year as part of a Stand Up To Racism delegation from the North West of England, the Calais Refugee Legal Centre was established to fill the vacuum left by the State, when it did not step up to assume its responsibility. Now she is demanding to know "what arrangements have been made to provide an alternative facility?"
And Islington Councillor Michelline Ngongo, herself a refugee from Congo who has visited the camp on a number of occasions, is unequivocal:
"The volunteer lawyers of the law centre succeeded in bringing the four young refugees from Syria into the UK last month: to deliberately burn it down is an act of wanton barbarism."
Further afield, following her direct questioning last week in New York, about Calais, to Laurence Rossignol, the Junior French Minister for Family Matters, Turin based international lawyer Dr. Esohe Aghatise says:
"France seems to have forgotten its proud revolutionary history of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and is letting xenophobic rhetoric cloud its judgement. As a country that prides itself on democratic values and human rights principles, by permitting this action, it is guilty of the same human rights abuses that it attacks other countries for abusing!"
The Calais Head of Police - Delphine Brard - commands the CRS security services who have been filmed and photographed using violence to evict camp residents. RAPAR is now publicly asking her to explain the role of the CRS in the destruction of this Centre.