‘Forever Temporary’: Migrants in Calais, Then and Now

Abstract

This article examines two recent refugee crises in Calais: the debate around the Sangatte refugee camp, which was resolved in 2002, and the ongoing problems in Calais, which have been escalating since autumn 2014. It asks: why are these events repeating? What, if anything, has changed between 2002 and now? It points to a number of new developments since 2002, such as growing numbers of migrants worldwide, and a changing European political and legal landscape. But it also argues that a number of the same factors that led to the Sangatte crisis are still shaping events and responses in Calais today. They concern the persistent shortcomings of European states’ immigration controls, the failures to reach Europe‐wide and international agreements on migration, and the inadequacies of international bodies such as the UNHCR and the 1951 Refugee Convention which it upholds.

Violent Inaction: The Necropolitical Experience of Refugees in Europe

“…In 2015, however, there were two key developments relating to the numbers of migrants in Calais, and the location of their settlements. In terms of numbers of residents, despite the number of “roving” asylum seekers living in the Calais area having reached an estimated 3000 at some point before 2002 (UNHCR cited in Reinisch :521), the estimated refugee population throughout the border town had usually remained between 1000 and 1500. In 2015, however, the number of refugees in Calais dramatically increased, echoing global refugee levels.…”

Mobile Borders and Turbulent Mobilities: Mapping the Geopolitics of the Channel Tunnel

“…The spectacle of militarisation, however, goes far beyond the physical sites. Although the camps in Sangatte and Calais have been a major source of security paranoia for Britain, the estimated number of asylum-seekers staying there varies from a few hundreds to a few thousands at different times 61 . This is a mere fraction of the total number of migrant arrivals in countries such as France, Germany and Italy around the same period, and would also make a small proportion of new asylum applications in the UK -if they manage to make the extremely perilous journey through the tunnel.…”

Migrant Youth, Transnational Families, and the State: Care and Contested Interests, Lauren Heidbrink

“…As Heidbrink points out, unlike criminal sentences which have a fixed sentence, these prolonged periods of waiting have no set end point, but are contingent on the collection and evaluation of evidence by a variety of actors. This echo'sReinisch's (2015) description of migrants' position in the unofficial refugee camp in Calais, France, as 'forever temporary' in the absence of coherent immigration policy and without addressing the conflict, persecution, and global inequities which impel migration. In her account, Heidbrink highlights the simultaneity of both movement and extreme stasis in the lives of unaccompanied minors, offering an implicit warning against the reification of mobility as the primary, or only, framework for conceptualising the migratory experience.…”