A message from Dover – there are other solutions

I often enjoy a coffee in the Premier Inn on Dover seafront. The setting is all that one could ask: a view across the Channel to France, the peaceful sight of vessels coming in and out of the harbour and people relaxing and enjoying themselves.

How could anything be amiss in this enjoyable scene? And then I remind myself that just a few paces away there is a memorial – or to be precise, two memorials.

The first plaque commemorates the tragic loss of life of 58 Chinese young people who were asphyxiated in the back of a lorry more than 20 years ago. The memories are still raw for those involved. The trauma is relived over and over for former emergency service workers who had to deal with the carnage on that that fateful morning.

What has made these tragedies even more vivid is that the desperation of those about to die was followed by that of relatives and friends in Kurdistan and elsewhere.

The second plaque remembers the several hundred migrants who have lost their lives in attempting to reach the UK in the last 20 years. The total grows more each year – just recently another boat sank with a further tragic loss of life.

It was a struggle to gain permission to site the memorial on the seafront, but we were helped and supported by some sympathetic local officials. When we hear of another death, we and others try to lay flowers in their memory at the memorial plaque.

Each year we hold a commemoration to mark the World Day for Migrants and Refugees. These have been supported by many local people; Dover is not full of bigots and racists as some might have us believe. We recite a litany for the victims and our local priest blesses the sea. The hymn Eternal Father Strong To Save, though meant for grander, more patriotic occasions, is particularly apt.

Our efforts to commemorate the victims in Calais have been less successful, but when in France I try to visit the cemetery in Vieux Coquelles just outside Calais where many Afghans are interred having attempted to jump on to freight trains in the nearby Eurotunnel marshalling yard. It is a peaceful scene, but full of bitter memories.

There is nothing new about “irregular” arrivals in this part of Kent. Over 25 tears ago we did our best to welcome a large number of Slovak Roma who were marginalised both in this country as well as Slovakia.

Their menfolk were often put in prison – and I remember travelling with a coachload of women to visit their husbands and seeing their tears as it was time to leave. They were in luck when Slovakia joined the EU and they were no longer “illegal”.

Shortly afterwards we welcomed the first wave of Afghan refugees after the Taliban takeover.

And so to the present time. The millions spent on security measures, additional law enforcement, drones and much else do not seem to be having any effect.

The act of crossing the Channel in a small boat is one of desperation. I still remember my own childhood days when I was afraid to board a dinghy on a peaceful lake. What must it be like to get into a grossly-overcrowded boat for people who have never seen the sea? When calls of desperation can go unanswered?

Our hearts go out to the woman who put her three young children on a boat, only to be left behind herself when gendarmes reached the boat just as it was about to leave. Three days later she was desperate to make contact with her children.

Are there other solutions? We believe so. We have called for a reception centre in Calais where claims for asylum can be made in a safe and legal way as with (some) Afghans and Ukrainians. The procedure can be orderly through a process of pre-bookable appointments which means that people need only arrive in Calais when their appointment is due. 

There has been little media attention to the dire conditions in which families survive around Calais, often in flimsy tents in sub-zero temperatures. They feel that the only way to escape these horrific conditions is to place their lives in the hands of traffickers. A modicum of accommodation under cover might just be better than freezing outside, and prevent some of the more desperate attempts.

And the response of the Church? There have been some encouraging developments. Last year six Bishops – Anglican and Catholic – from the UK and northern France spoke out in a joint statement against the injustices of the way in which migrants are treated.

We have been reminded that the total number of immigrants to the UK, including those from Hong Kong, far outnumber those claiming asylum. The former apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Claudio Gugerrotti, twice visited the nearby Napier Barracks, where over 300 asylum seekers are held, to talk with the residents and present a certificate of blessing signed by Pope Francis. A simple but valued gesture.

But we need to go further. We need acts of prophetic witness which are based not just on Catholic Social Teaching but on the duty of Christians to enter the public square and speak out against injustice, whatever the response of some politicians who may tell us to mind our own business.

I am often reminded of the prophetic words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who constantly reminded us of our Christian duty in the dark times of the 1930s and 1940s:

“Every moment and every situation challenges us to action and obedience. We have literally no time to sit down and ask ourselves whether so-and-so is our neighbour or not. We must get into action and obey – we must behave like a neighbour to him.”

Ben Bano is a member of Deal Town Council and the co-director of Seeking Sanctuary.