Across the English Channel from the clifftop town of Dover, the port city of Calais is the principal ferry crossing point between France and the UK and has, since the 1990s been an important transit route for refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Syria, Darfur, and South Sudan, wishing to reach the UK. With no legal safe passage, many attempt to cross the channel by stowing away on lorries, ferries, and cars, often risking (or losing) their lives in doing so.
Issues escalated in 2015. The UK blamed the French authorities for not doing enough to keep migrants out and bought nearly £2 million worth of fences to stop migrants from crossing into the UK. In October 2016, French authorities cleared the makeshift migrant camp, which had become home (usually in the shape of a soaked through tent) for 9,000 migrants. Six months later, the camp in Dunkirk (a few kilometers away from Calais), home mostly to Iraqi and Syrian Kurds (many of which were families) fleeing the so-called Islamic State was burnt down.
But with nowhere to go, and no end in sight of the war in Syria and elsewhere, the north of France is still home to an estimated 800 migrants, around 200 of whom are minors.
