As the 20th Oxford Human Rights Festival (OxHRF) kicks off on March 11th, MA DEP Post Graduate student, Victoria Greenwood reflects on the festival theme of ‘Movement’ through her experience in Calais.
“Extreme inequality in our world makes free movement safe and easy for those of us privileged to hold a British passport and be protected by double vaccines.” by Victoria Greenwood.
10th December was Human Rights Day and signalled the start of the Oxford Human Rights Festival’s 20th year. The 2022 theme is ‘Movement’, and this for me represents the physical movement of displaced people and the emotional movement of hearts and minds. Refugee studies is central to my MA DEP at Brookes, and as part of the policy and advocacy team at Asylum Welcome, I support the ‘Show Your Heart’ campaign, which symbolises solidarity with refugees and opposes the dehumanising anti-refugee narratives promoted by press and politicians alike. Oxford Brookes joined this support by lighting up its buildings in orange to mark Human Rights Day.
Extreme inequality in our world makes free movement safe and easy for those of us privileged to hold a British passport and are protected by double vaccines. Last November, I travelled to Calais to work at the Refugee Community Kitchen. RCK is a UK based charity originally set up in 2015 to provide food to people and families in the infamous Jungle camp. After the Jungle was demolished at the end of 2016, RCK moved into an enormous warehouse on the outskirts of Calais. With a large ever changing team of volunteers and tiny team of retained staff, it continues its mission to source, prepare and distribute freshly cooked food that is both delicious and culturally appropriate for displaced and transient people in need. There is also a UK outreach service which works across locations in London and in Edinburgh.
The simple act of creating delicious hot food that is served with respect, dignity and non-judgement lies at the heart of the RCK ethos. They believe that none of us who live in warmth and safety can judge those who have neither. Every distro brings its own experience and challenging weather, local tensions, exhausted people, and the threat of police presence add to a sense of unpredictability.
I learnt that the UK Government contributes vast sums to the French police to deploy ‘border security’ on its behalf, but this manifests itself in violence and hostility. RCK old hands have all witnessed this plus the constant destruction of makeshift camps. Whilst squabbling politicians seek to blame anyone other than their own failed immigration and asylum policies, vulnerable and desperate people experience border violence and exploitation. Smugglers / movers operate all around Calais and even my budget hotel turned out to be a night-time rendezvous point for people on the move. Young men sat waiting on corridor floors and in stairwells clutching their backpacks and charging phones. A dystopian game of human hide and seek took place in the hotel car park as men and women hid in the shadows to avoid the police patrols. By daybreak everyone was gone, and it was impossible not to think about what lay ahead for them and what they might have to endure that day.
On my last day at RCK, we were told during the morning meeting that three people had tragically lost their lives, two drowned at sea and one was hit trying to follow a railway line. After our distro that night, the team joined an emotional candlelit vigil in the park with townspeople, NGOs, supportive local groups, RCK volunteers, and bereaved friends. I recognised one young man who we served earlier, and he tearfully read aloud a letter from one of the deceased who had written to his family in case he did not make it across the Channel, and his words still stay in my head:
‘My family, I have failed in my dreams to seek a safer life. My father, I have failed you. I will never be able to look you in the eye and tell you how sorry I am. To my mother, I am sorry to have broken your heart and brought you such sadness, and to never be able to wipe away your tears. To my sister, I am sorry that I have failed to find a safe life for you, and that I now cannot protect you as a brother should.
And to the sea that has taken me, I thank you for welcoming me openly even though I come from a county with the wrong papers and the wrong colour of skin’
Just two weeks after this vigil, a boat with over 30 people onboard sank amidst claims the distress call was unanswered in UK waters, leaving the bodies of 27 people, including women and children, to be washed back by the tide to the Calais and Dunkirk beaches. Is a humanitarian system to apply for asylum visas from outside of the UK really beyond our competence and compassion? If no safe routes exist, people will always be forced into desperate situations, potentially risking lives.
Contrary to media narrative, the UK does not host a large number of refugees compared to other European countries. It takes just 0.025% of refugees globally and 8% of asylum applicants in Europe. Those who attempt to reach the UK come from countries including Iran, Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan, and do so for complex reasons. It might be knowledge of English and family connection, or perhaps a colonial and military association, or fear of continued persecution in other states. Home Office data shows that nearly 60% of people who cross the Channel in small boats are deemed to be genuine refugees, and others are migrating for reasons such as poverty and the impact of climate change.
Surely this threatens the understanding of what we owe each other as fellow humans. Have we, as warned by post-war theorist Hannah Arendt, failed ‘to think what we are doing’? From what I saw and learnt in Calais; my answer is yes.
For those following the progress of the Nationality and Borders Bill, the House of Lords' committee stage has now concluded. Towards the end of March, the Borders Bill will return again to the House of Commons, peppered with amendments. Then the game of ping-pong begins: the Bill will be passed back and forth until consensus can be reached. This means we need to keep communicating with our MPs, emphasising in particular our desire at Asylum Welcome that Clause 11 be scrapped from the bill and that more safe and legal routes to the UK, including humanitarian visas, be added in its place. A compassionate, kind and fair approach to refugees is not found in the proposed Nationality and Borders Bill, so please oppose it.
No comments:
Post a Comment