You have to come to Calais itself to grasp this sight. Walls, barbed wire, fences and concrete blocks have replaced forest land in this city where poverty is rampant and residents are living in an open-air prison.

Welcome to absurdity, where the repressive arsenal is being pushed to the extreme in order to discourage people in migration situations from settling. In Calais, the worst devices are at work to stubbornly combat "anchoring points" – destruction and theft of property, misuse of legal procedures, obstruction of access to water and food aid, construction of fences, installation of rocks, harassment and intimidation.

Since the signing of the Touquet agreements in 2003, aimed at sharing the management of migration flow control between France and the UK, the British border has moved to Calais, where French police have become the armed wing of British migration policy.

Militarization

Designed to make the geographical area along the Channel coastline as inhospitable as possible, this technique has only served to further militarize the border. Not only has this militarization not prevented an increase in crossings, it has also made them more dangerous. Under pressure in Calais, more and more migrants are hastily attempting the crossing from the lower part of the coast, increasing the crossing time and risk of shipwreck.

The consequences are dramatic. On September 3, 12 people died in the English Channel and two others were reported missing off Wimereux, near Boulogne-sur-Mer. 2024 has thereby become the deadliest year at the border, according to Utopia 56. Since the beginning of the year, 35 people have died at sea (drowning, thermal shock, trampling...).

This disastrous humanitarian situation feeds both the mafia-like networks who profit from this human misery and the far-right parties who see an opportunity to garner votes in this desertion by the French state. These are the votes of people, who, in the face of this neglected human misery, feel compelled to manage the consequences of global upheavals on their own small scale.

Intolerable attacks on fundamental rights

Unfortunately, this daily reality no longer makes the headlines, despite repeated warnings from Calais-based NGOs such as Utopia 56, which are confronted with horror on the ground and deafness at the top of the French state. Like the Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l'Homme (National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, CNCDH) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which have repeatedly condemned France, these NGOs condemn the intolerable attacks on fundamental rights being suffered by migrants at the French border.

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