Heartfelt pleas for ‘desperate’ migrants

Three bishops including Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark went to Calais last weekend to express solidarity with migrants and refugees struggling to survive in a series of squalid camps known as the “Jungle”.

The bishops signed a statement appealing to their congregations to help the migrants in what volunteers described as deteriorating conditions in the camp.

Archbishop Smith was joined in Calais by the Anglican Bishop of Dover, Trevor Willmott, and the Bishop of Arras, Jean-Paul Jaeger.

“These vulnerable men, women and children share in our common humanity and everyone can help them to live in dignity,” they wrote.

The bishops also said they wanted to counter the “myths” that were causing hostility to the refugees and urged politicians to come up with “new policies that go beyond merely closing frontiers”.

There are an estimated 3,000 migrants at the camp, a high proportion of whom are young men. More have arrived in the last fortnight with the latest arrivals sleeping in small, flimsy tents. The biggest groups are from Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea.

Archbishop Smith told The Tablet: “I heard some horrendous tales. One young man was nearly in tears as he said ‘I am the last of my family. All of them have been killed. I had to get away because I would have ended up dead as well.’

“These people are desperate. They are so vulnerable. All they want to do is get away from the strife and warfare,” said the archbishop.

Ben Bano, founder of the group, Seeking Sanctuary, based in Deal, Kent, who helped organise the “Refugees Welcome” day of action last Saturday, described the system for distributing aid as chaotic.

On Wednesday, the chief executive of church aid agency CSAN, Helen O’Brien led a visit to Calais to tour the camps and discuss  ways to exert pressure on governments to find a better solution.