Strasbourg, 24.09.2009 – “What next?” asked Corien W.A. Jonker, Chair of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), commenting after the bulldozers went in to destroy the tent and shack village established by irregular migrants and asylum seekers and refugees waiting for the opportunity to cross from France into the United Kingdom.
“We saw the closure of Sangatte in 2002, we have now seen the evictions from the ‘Calais Jungle’ in 2009, but we are no nearer to solving the problem of people living in desperate conditions, taking desperate steps to establish new lives,” said Mrs Jonker.
Mrs Jonker said that she could understand the reasoning of the French authorities prompting them to close the “Calais Jungle”, but expressed concern about the fate of those persons previously living in the camp who might have international protection needs. She urged the French authorities to ensure that those who sought asylum were given every opportunity to make their claims in France and that they were not transferred to transit countries where their claims might not be properly assessed.
“I am concerned about the quality and consistency of the asylum decisions in some European countries, which is the reason why I have reservations about sending asylum seekers back to these countries,” Mrs Jonker added, pointing to a recent report by her committee on the issue of the quality and consistency of asylum decisions in Europe.
