Berliner Boersenzeitung - Dreams of Britain warm migrants against harsh French winter

EUR -
AED 4.298411
AFN 80.848329
ALL 97.660061
AMD 448.846241
ANG 2.09445
AOA 1073.146765
ARS 1490.94381
AUD 1.79484
AWG 2.109431
AZN 1.991025
BAM 1.956002
BBD 2.362943
BDT 142.480417
BGN 1.9561
BHD 0.441151
BIF 3488.059346
BMD 1.170281
BND 1.500255
BOB 8.086833
BRL 6.51998
BSD 1.170321
BTN 101.061412
BWP 16.313681
BYN 3.829995
BYR 22937.499063
BZD 2.350842
CAD 1.599709
CDF 3377.430105
CHF 0.932836
CLF 0.029081
CLP 1115.956442
CNY 8.397888
CNH 8.396634
COP 4722.585298
CRC 590.26081
CUC 1.170281
CUP 31.012435
CVE 110.273063
CZK 24.624578
DJF 208.191448
DKK 7.466448
DOP 70.637277
DZD 151.852654
EGP 57.451067
ERN 17.554208
ETB 162.356126
FJD 2.635826
FKP 0.867102
GBP 0.867734
GEL 3.171696
GGP 0.867102
GHS 12.200257
GIP 0.867102
GMD 83.678408
GNF 10153.742385
GTQ 8.981925
GYD 244.845224
HKD 9.186626
HNL 30.629155
HRK 7.537425
HTG 153.575822
HUF 399.280416
IDR 19089.850623
ILS 3.919825
IMP 0.867102
INR 101.146057
IQD 1533.057938
IRR 49283.4483
ISK 142.434345
JEP 0.867102
JMD 187.669334
JOD 0.829734
JPY 172.261202
KES 151.855558
KGS 102.340977
KHR 4690.483222
KMF 493.857789
KPW 1053.288792
KRW 1622.008808
KWD 0.357282
KYD 0.9753
KZT 624.43433
LAK 25239.600229
LBP 104859.602826
LKR 353.018827
LRD 234.644173
LSL 20.602623
LTL 3.455534
LVL 0.707891
LYD 6.340464
MAD 10.543471
MDL 19.848045
MGA 5180.533708
MKD 61.564501
MMK 2456.363932
MNT 4200.462756
MOP 9.462875
MRU 46.449785
MUR 53.235831
MVR 18.019336
MWK 2029.309063
MXN 21.832719
MYR 4.952046
MZN 74.850385
NAD 20.602623
NGN 1792.143945
NIO 43.063149
NOK 11.889056
NPR 161.698658
NZD 1.963426
OMR 0.449999
PAB 1.170321
PEN 4.167005
PGK 4.91936
PHP 66.610061
PKR 333.501434
PLN 4.257423
PYG 8899.650693
QAR 4.266812
RON 5.071414
RSD 117.208305
RUB 91.721498
RWF 1691.674279
SAR 4.390103
SBD 9.695886
SCR 17.333586
SDG 702.769843
SEK 11.214073
SGD 1.499521
SHP 0.919657
SLE 26.916275
SLL 24540.202914
SOS 668.868908
SRD 42.920017
STD 24222.444896
STN 24.502524
SVC 10.239749
SYP 15215.82151
SZL 20.609123
THB 37.719898
TJS 11.234957
TMT 4.107685
TND 3.427353
TOP 2.74092
TRY 47.308557
TTD 7.947819
TWD 34.43788
TZS 3042.729269
UAH 48.887674
UGX 4199.432633
USD 1.170281
UYU 47.254868
UZS 14749.519522
VES 136.88189
VND 30596.985357
VUV 138.992756
WST 3.085016
XAF 656.024585
XAG 0.030046
XAU 0.000345
XCD 3.162742
XCG 2.109217
XDR 0.81669
XOF 656.004963
XPF 119.331742
YER 281.978836
ZAR 20.578541
ZMK 10533.934167
ZMW 27.063788
ZWL 376.829864
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Dreams of Britain warm migrants against harsh French winter
Dreams of Britain warm migrants against harsh French winter / Photo: Sameer Al-DOUMY - AFP

Dreams of Britain warm migrants against harsh French winter

Wearing only a light jacket and woolly hat against the winter cold, 28-year-old Ali Ibrahim said conditions were dire at the improvised camp for migrants in northern France where he sleeps.

Text size:

"Sometimes it's really tough," the Sudanese said outside the abandoned warehouse where he has lived for the six months waiting for a chance to cross the Channel to Britain.

"Some people don't have a blanket or anything to keep warm -- even a coat," he said.

Dozens of tents are crammed in the warehouse's gloomy interior on the outskirts of the port city of Calais. Authorities say about 400 of the 750 people around the city waiting to cross to Britain live there.

Cold, humid gusts blow through cracks in the wall, while bags of rubbish pile up outside. Drenched clothes hang on a barbed wire fence nearby.

Hasan Abdullah, a fellow Sudanese, said his set-up inside the warehouse was not ideal, but it was better than sleeping rough.

"I wrap myself in several blankets -- three or four -- then I cover my tent in plastic and it's fine," said the 21-year-old.

- 'Outside for four days' -

The state has set up other warehouse shelters with heating, beds and sleeping bags for up to 500 migrants when the weather is too cold, according to local official Agathe Cury.

But they have only been open for 15 nights in total since December 1.

And while migrants can also sleep in assigned shelters for asylum seekers that are open all year round, many say they prefer to sleep close to potential departure points to make the illegal Channel crossing.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Tuesday said official measures to shelter migrants from the cold were "insufficient", and urged the provision of permanent shelters "at least until the end of winter".

To help, the non-governmental organisation rented 10 hotel rooms in Calais from early December to the end of March.

MSF says the rooms shelter 29 people -- including families, pregnant women and unaccompanied minors.

Thirteen-year-old Najma from Somalia has been sleeping there with her family.

"I slept outside for four days," she told AFP, sitting on a sofa in a communal living room.

"It was very cold, and the place we were sleeping was not clean," the teenager said, adding there was no "food, water, or tea".

But here "it's much cleaner... you have everything, and it's not cold. It's very nice."

Mohammad, a 44-year-old from Syria, said he and his daughter caught influenza sleeping outside before finding refuge at the hotel.

"January has been particularly cold," he said, preferring not to give his second name.

- 'Need to go to London' -

MSF coordinator Feyrouz Lajili said migrants in Calais were "surviving in shameful, inhumane conditions".

The state plan for shelter during extreme cold "was not activated in December, despite the very low, even negative temperatures", she said.

But authorities say they do not want to encourage migrants to settle along the coast.

Cury, the local official, said it would be "nonsensical" to invest in saving the lives of migrants attempting the Channel crossing, while also "putting them just next to where smugglers operate".

At least 76 migrants died trying to cross to Britain last year, according to French authorities, making 2024 the deadliest year on record for the crossings.

Tens of thousands reached Britain, where the government has vowed to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.

Despite the cold, the men, women and children who made it to Calais continue to dream of crossing the sea to the United Kingdom.

"We need to go to London because we need education. I want to go to school, and I need a good life and safety," said Najma, adding Somalia was "not safe".

"We haven't taken the boat yet, but we need to. We're waiting. I hope I can go one day."

Hussein, a 27-year-old from Kuwait staying at the hotel, said his wife almost drowned a few days earlier when they set out into the Channel on a dinghy.

But the man, who preferred not to give his surname, said he was determined to try again.

"Even if something happens to me or I die trying, it'll be better than life over here," he said.

(H.Schneide--BBZ)