The Calais Jungle (known officially as Camp de la Lande) was a
refugee
A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
and
immigrant
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...
encampment in the vicinity of
Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...
, France, that existed from January 2015 to October 2016. There had been other camps known as "jungles" in previous years, but this particular
shanty town
A shanty town, squatter area, squatter settlement, or squatter camp is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such as mud and wood, or from cheap building materials such as corrugated iron s ...
drew global media attention during the peak of the
European migrant crisis
The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request Right of asyl ...
in 2015, when its population grew rapidly. Migrants stayed at the camp while they attempted to enter the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, or while they waited for their
French asylum claims to be processed.
The camp was located on a former
landfill
A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...
site to the east of Calais. By July 2015, it had 3,000 inhabitants and continued to grow. Although estimates of the number of migrants differed, a
Help Refugees census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
gave a figure of 8,143 people just before the camp's demolition in October 2016. As well as residences, the Jungle contained shops, restaurants, hairdressers, schools, places of worship and a boxing club.
The
Government of France
The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...
initially tolerated the camp, later opting to rehouse 1,500 migrants in
shipping containers to be used as shelters on the north-eastern side of the site. In February 2016, they evicted the southern sector of the Jungle and there were several arrests. The Jungle received local support and international solidarity from activists, artists, intellectuals and
grassroots
A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...
aid organisations. The camp was completely cleared and demolished in October 2016. According to Government plans, 6,400 migrants would be moved to 280 temporary reception centres around France. There were concerns over the fate of 200
unaccompanied children and
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
published a report in 2017 stating that up to 1,000 migrants were still living in the Calais region. While there is no longer a camp like the Jungle in Calais, a sizeable number of migrants are still present.
Context

Migrants
based in Calais were attempting to enter the United Kingdom via the
Port of Calais or the
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...
by
stowing away on lorries, ferries, cars, or trains. Some migrants were attempting to return to the United Kingdom having once lived there,
whilst others were attempting to enter the British labour market to find
under-the-table work, which is more difficult in France.
Some migrants lived in the camp while seeking asylum in France, a choice they made because the French system did not provide for them while their claim was being processed, leaving them
homeless
Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...
for the duration. One migrant from
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, a politics graduate, told ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' that he had "paid $3,000 (£2,000) to leave Egypt, risked my life on a boat to Italy spending days at sea" and that in one month he had tried 20 times to reach England; another, an
Eritrea
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...
n woman with a one-year-old child, had paid €2,500 (£1,825) – and her husband the same – to sail to
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, but her husband had
drowned during the journey.
['At night it's like a horror movie' – inside Calais's official shantytown.](_blank)
Angelique Chrisafis, ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 6 April 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2019. Migrants risk their lives when they try to climb aboard or travel on lorries, occasionally falling off and breaking bones; some fatalities en route are also recorded.
In September 2016, workers began building a barrier, dubbed "The Great Wall Of Calais", to block refugees from accessing a highway where they could stow away on vehicles bound for Britain.
Migrants have gathered around Calais since at least the 1990s. A refugee centre opened in 1999 and had been administered by the
French Red Cross at
Sangatte
Sangatte (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department on the northern coast of France on the English Channel. The name is of Flemish origin, meaning hole or gap in the sand.
Engineering
Sangatte i ...
, but rapidly became overcrowded.
After the Sangatte facility was closed in November 2002 by
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...
(then the French
Minister of the Interior
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
) under pressure from the
UK government
His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. , a "jungle" camp was established in the woods around the Port of Calais,
along with various other camps that sprung up around the city before being torn down by the authorities.
The large camp lasted until April 2009, when the French authorities launched a raid, arresting 190 people and using bulldozers to destroy tents. By July 2009, the camp had been re-established, and the BBC estimated it held around 800 inhabitants.
[Migrant squalor in Calais 'jungle'.](_blank)
Emma-Jane Kirby, BBC News, 2 July 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2015. French authorities closed down the camp in a September 2009
dawn raid and detained 276 people. Conditions in these camps were poor, typically without proper sanitary or washing facilities and accommodation consisting of tents and improvised shelters. Food was supplied by
charity kitchens. The French authorities faced a dilemma of addressing humanitarian needs without attracting additional migrants.
The notion of humanitarian aid provision being a
pull factor to the area has been contested by academics.
Smaller camps continued to be set up and evicted over the following years, and local
volunteers
Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergenc ...
provided aid to migrants.
After a visit to the city by
French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve in September 2014, Cazeneuve and the
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
of Calais
Natacha Bouchart agreed on opening a day centre in Calais for migrants and a
night shelter specifically for
women
A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl.
Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...
and
children
A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...
. It was this decision that led to the opening of the Jules Ferry Centre in January of the following year, around which the camp expanded.
In December 2014, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...
said the conditions in Calais were "totally unacceptable".
In partnership with local associations, the UNHCR also reported that 15 people, including young women and teenagers, had died at the border during 2014.
In January 2015, the government set up an official
day centre, initially consisting of three military tents in the car park of a former children's
holiday camp
A holiday camp is a type of holiday accommodation, primarily in the United Kingdom, that encourages holidaymakers to stay within the site boundary, and provides entertainment and facilities for them throughout the day. Since the 1970s, the term ...
, the Jules Ferry Centre.
[R. Mulholland,]
Calais opens first migrant camp since Sangatte closed
' (15/01/15) in ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' Located on the eastern outskirts of the city,
this was the first permanent site for migrants in the area since the camp at Sangatte.
It was run by La Vie Active
and was set up as a place from which food could be distributed, with overnight accommodation for up to 500 women and children added a few months later.
Migrants were pushed towards this site through the dismantling of other encampments around the city and the area around the Jules Ferry Centre became a "tolerated zone" where migrants camped.
It is this site that developed into the Calais Jungle.
Location and name
The Calais Jungle was located on a former landfill site in a
Seveso zone. The land had been polluted by industrial waste and had been designated a
Natura 2000
Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...
protected nature habitat.
From 2000 onwards, the name "jungle" has been used by migrants to describe many encampments and
shanty town
A shanty town, squatter area, squatter settlement, or squatter camp is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such as mud and wood, or from cheap building materials such as corrugated iron s ...
s around Calais. The use of the word to describe encampments is thought to derive from the
Pashto
Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
word "dzjangal" which means a forest or wood.
The moniker "Calais Jungle" is now most associated with this particular camp that existed from January 2015 to October 2016, located on the eastern edge of
Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...
, under away from the
Port of Calais and next to the
N216 bypass, used by vehicles approaching or leaving the ferry terminal. It was tolerated by the French authorities who officially referred to it as the Camp de la Lande ("
Lande" meaning "
heath
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...
" or "
moor", referring to the geography and location of the site, a sandy area of
flats and
dune
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...
s outside the perimeter of the city).
Statistics

By September 2014, ''The Guardian'' estimated that there were 1,300 migrants in Calais, mostly from
Eritrea
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...
,
Somalia
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
and
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
.
In 2015, during the peak of the
European migrant crisis
The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request Right of asyl ...
, the numbers began to grow. Migrants arrived from
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
,
Darfur
Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...
, Iraq and other
conflict zones.
By July 2015, ''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...
'' reported that the "new jungle" had 3,000 inhabitants.
Médecins du Monde stated in 2015 that 62% of the migrants in Calais were young men with an average age of 33, with an increase in the number unaccompanied children (517 in 2014, eight times more than in 2011).
Many migrants later moved to smaller camps near Calais and
Dunkirk
Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...
.
As of November 2015, there were an estimated 6,000 migrants living in Calais, policed by over 1,000 officers. That winter, the number of arrivals decreased while a number of migrants left the camp, such as 3,569 who were "welcomed to France".
[M. Solletty,]
INFOGRAPHIE. L'explosion du nombre de migrants à Calais en un graphique
' (02/09/16) on France Info At the end of February 2016, the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
noted that there were differing figures for the population: "Calais officials say it houses 3,700, while
Help Refugees puts it at 5,497".
Aid organisations put discrepancies between their and the authorities' figures down to different counting methods and a reluctance from migrants to speak to
border police
A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Federal Police (Germany), Germany, Guardia di Finanza, Italy or State Border Guar ...
.
Refugee Rights Data Project (RRDP, later known as Refugee Rights Europe) released a report in April 2016 called ''The Long Wait: Filling the data gaps relating to refugees and displaced people in the Calais camp''.
It stated that 75.9% of the 870 refugees surveyed said they had experienced
police violence, a category including physical and
sexual violence
Sexual violence is any harmful or unwanted Human sexual activity, sexual act, an attempt to obtain a sexual act through violence or coercion, or an act directed against a person's sexuality without their consent, by any individual regardless of ...
,
verbal abuse
Verbal abuse (also known as verbal aggression, verbal attack, verbal violence, verbal assault, psychic aggression, or psychic violence) is a type of Psychological abuse, psychological/mental abuse that involves the use of Oral language, oral or w ...
and misuse of
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...
. A similar figure (76.7%) reported
health issues resulting from living in the Jungle.
According to ''The Long Wait'', at the time of the report 71.6% of the approximately 5,500 residents had been in the camp for three to six months. About 78 people had been there for more than a year and around 205 women lived in the camp at this time (3.2% of the population).
A large fight between 200 and 300 migrants from Afghanistan and Sudan broke out at the camp in late May 2016, resulting in 40 injuries (33 migrants, 5 aid workers and 2 police officers), of which 3 were serious (including a stabbing).
[Dozens injured at fight at Calais 'Jungle' migrant camp](_blank)
, Deutsche Welle
(; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...
(27 May 2016). Two hundred police officers, seventy firefighters and eleven ambulances responded to the scene; French authorities opened an investigation.
At the time,
Deutsche Welle
(; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...
estimated that 4,000 to 5,000 people lived in the camp.
During the summer, the population of the camp surpassed the highest number of the previous year.
According to a July 2016 census by
Help Refugees, the camp was populated by 7,307 migrants, of which 761 were minors with the population growing by 50 people a day on average.
By September, the state estimated the population at 6,901, while local
non-governmental organisations
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
(NGOs) put it at 9,000 – a figure accepted by Mayor
Bouchart.
It was estimated that the population reached 10,000 before the camp's demolition.
Help Refugees' final count put the population of the camp at 8,143 in October 2016.
More than 1,000 police were deployed during the final eviction.
In July 2017,
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
(HRW) presented its findings on police violence in Calais based on interviews conducted with more than 60 temporary residents, half of whom were unaccompanied minors. In the international NGO's report, it revealed that there was an unregulated use of pepper spray by Calais police throughout the Jungle, resulting not only in the physical and psychological trauma of the refugees, but also the spoilage of their food and water, an act which the interviewed refugees alleged as intentional. In a broader report published earlier in the month, "Nobody Deserves to Live This Way!", the
Human Trafficking Foundation (HTF) noted that the hostilities of the French government and police towards Calais refugees were meant to deter them from initiating the process to seek asylum in the U.K., particularly impacting unaccompanied minors with decreased access to information about their rights.
UNITED for Intercultural Action lists more than 40 migrant deaths in and around Calais during the time of the Jungle. Causes of death include
suffocation in the back of a lorry, being hit by a vehicle (including train), beaten to death by
people smugglers, killed during a fight between migrants,
drowning
Drowning is a type of Asphyxia, suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where othe ...
, suspected
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
, and suspected
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
by
right-wing
Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
extremists.
Facilities and infrastructure

In 2015, a
Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF; pronounced ), known in some English-speaking settings as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zo ...
(MSF) doctor who had worked in the camp for ten days claimed that the conditions were worse than anything she had seen in African
slum
A slum is a highly populated Urban area, urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are p ...
s. Access to water taps and showers was inadequate.
Médecins du Monde stated in July 2015 that there was "insufficient drinking water (30 taps), practically no toilets (20 for 3,000 people),
insufficient food, inadequate
health care
Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...
."
As a result of these conditions, residents faced numerous health challenges. For example,
Médecins du Monde estimated that up to 40% of people they treated in the camp had scabies, a contagious parasitic condition common in refugee camps and other crowded institutions worldwide. Roads could be mapped in the camp and some lighting was installed through its centre; although most of the camp was unlit, residents reported feeling vulnerable at night.
Residents built dwellings and set up amenities, including shops,
restaurants, hair dressers and places of worship. Food critic
A. A. Gill ate at a nameless restaurant run by Mohammed Ali from
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
, rating both food and atmosphere four out of five, commenting that the main course was "a properly, cleverly crafted and wholly unexpected dish, made with finesse". After an appeal by NGOs to the court in
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
that the amenities were vital for feeding residents, a judge blocked authorities from attempting to raze restaurants and shops in August 2016, ruling there was no legal basis for the demolitions.
St. Michael's Church (also known as the Ethiopian Church) was first erected in November 2014. It had to be moved in April 2015 and subsequently burnt down after a candle was dropped; it was reconstructed out of waste materials and completed in July 2015.
The church was featured on the
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...
's
Songs of Praise
''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns, worship songs and inspirational performances in churches of varying denominations from around the UK alongside interviews and stories reflecting how Ch ...
in August 2015.
This was a controversial action since the BBC was accused by
the ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...
'' and the ''
Sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
'' of wasting its
licence payers' fees and of taking a political stance. Senior
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
figures such as the
Bishop of Leeds, the
Dean of Durham and the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
said they fully supported the program. In 2016, a different
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
and a
mosque
A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard.
Originally, mosques were si ...
were demolished by the authorities.
A number of NGOs worked to provide refugee relief, including the French associations L'Aubergue des Migrants, Salam,
Secours Catholique, and Utopia 56. A number of foreign NGOs were also present, including
Help Refugees (working in partnership with L'Auberge des Migrants), Refugee Community Kitchen, Calais Kitchens, Belgium Kitchen,
Calais Action, Care4Calais, and Refugee Info Bus.
Between them they provided food, material aid, legal information, sanitation and shelter. Educational services were provided by Jungle Books, the Ecole Laïque chemins des dunes and by
Edlumino.
Specialist services for women and children were run by the Unofficial Women's and Children's Centre and the Refugee Youth Service.
NGOs also provided recreation:
such as a boxing club and the Good Chance Theatre, which ran from a dome doubling as a community space for other activities.
Containers

In January 2016, French authorities opened a new area in the northeastern part of the jungle.
They had earlier cleared tents and shacks from this area and erected 125 metal
shipping container
A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated box design, corrugated b ...
s in their place, converting them into
housing units for up to 1,500 migrants.
Shipping containers, rather than more permanent structures, were chosen because the sand dunes are unfit for permanent
foundations
Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses
* Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face
* Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...
.
The containers were white and furnished with
bunk bed
A bunk bed or set of bunks
is a type of bed in which one bed frame (a bunk) is stacked on top of another bed, allowing two or more sleeping-places to occupy the floor space usually required by just one. Bunks are commonly seen on ships, in th ...
s, windows, and heaters, but had no
running water or sanitary facilities (toilets and showers were made available at an existing nearby facility). At the time,
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency ...
described the entire jungle as "squalid" and "unsanitary" and estimated its total population to be 4,000.
Many migrants subsequently moved into the container housing, but some resisted the French government's ultimatum to leave their makeshift housing and live in the container area, citing its spartan setup, lack of communal areas, and their fears that once in the new housing area, they would be blocked from going to Britain.
This concern arose because the containers were enclosed by a
metal fence and it was necessary to give a
fingerprint to gain access. Under the
Dublin Regulation an asylum seeker must seek asylum in the
EU Member State
The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are party to the EU's founding treaties, and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. They have agreed by the treaties to share their o ...
where they first gave their fingerprints and they may not seek asylum elsewhere, thus some migrants were concerned that if their fingerprints were taken in France they would then not be able to claim
asylum in the UK. The authorities stated the fingerprints were taken for security reasons.
Reactions
Solidarity
Local citizens,
No Borders activists and thousands of volunteers making up local and foreign grassroots organisations supported migrants in the camp,
as did a number of academics, artists and celebrities.
Libération
(), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...
published an open letter in support of the migrants on 20 October 2015, signed by 800 film-makers and intellectuals.
Jaz O'Hara visited with her boyfriend during summer 2015 and decided to collect donations after writing a
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
post which was shared 60,000 times in a few days.
They set up a group called CalAid and collected clothing donations in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
.
They received hundreds of tents from
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Fest ...
and took the donations to Calais in a fleet of 40 vans.
TV presenter
Dawn O'Porter
Dawn O'Porter (born Dawn Porter; 23 January 1979) is a Scottish writer, director, and television presenter.
Early life
Dawn O'Porter was born in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, Alexandria, Scotland, and raised in Guernsey. She studied acting ...
and
Radio X presenter
Lliana Bird
Choose Love (formerly Help Refugees) is a UK-based non-governmental organization (NGO) which provides humanitarian aid to, and advocacy for, refugees around the world. In 2016, it became the largest grassroots distributor of aid in Europe.
His ...
, along with mutual friend Josie Naughton, used their social media capital to organise a donation and fund-raising
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
campaign in August 2015, using the
hashtag
A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...
#HelpCalais. For the first five weeks, about 7,000 items were purchased a day from the group's
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
wish list and within weeks they had raised £50,000. The scale of the response drew the women into further
logistical and distribution organisation, out of which the charity
Help Refugees was formed.
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive ep ...
created a mural called
The Son of a Migrant from Syria in the camp in December 2015, featuring
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...
as a migrant.
Prior to the
eviction of the southern section of the camp, playwright
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard (; born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...
and actors
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He began his career in theatre before landing small roles in various British television productions and feature films. Law gained international recognition for his role in An ...
,
Tom Odell
Thomas Peter Odell (born 24 November 1990) is an English singer-songwriter. He released his debut extended play, ''Songs from Another Love'', in 2012. He won the 2013 BRIT Awards, BRITs Critics' Choice Award in early 2013. Odell's debut studio ...
and
Toby Jones
Toby Edward Heslewood Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 7 September 1966) is an English actor. He is known for his extensive character actor roles on stage and screen. From 1989 ...
performed in the camp at the end of February 2016 to draw attention to the eviction. The performance was organised by Letters Live in the Good Change theatre, a space set up by British volunteers the previous year and included readings by camp residents.
Popstar
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Lily Allen, Her accolades include a Brit Award, alongside nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivi ...
visited in summer 2016 at the instigation of a friend who runs a migrant charity. She apologised to a 13-year-old
child migrant, Shamsher, on behalf of the UK;
Shamsher later entered the UK in October 2016.
Opposition
Assault
In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...
s on migrants near the Jungle were reported on several occasions. Seven attackers belonging to
anti-migrant movements and armed with iron bars and
electric batons were arrested during the night of 10 February 2016 at
Loon-Plage. On 22 February 2016, four other people were arrested on suspicion of assaults against migrants. On 9 March 2016, five people were arrested, three of whom had already been arrested at Loon-Plage on 10 February. The five men were allegedly involved in at least seven attacks on migrants.
On 5 September 2016,
truck driver
A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; an HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...
s, local
farmers, and
trade union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
ists, protesting against what they saw as "wilful destruction" by migrants residing in the camp, slowed traffic entering the port of Calais and demanded the closure of the Jungle. The protesters blockaded the
A16 with lorries and agricultural vehicles.
Camp residents experienced hostility from the police. While the camp was initially tolerated by the authorities, opposition grew and culminated in the final eviction of the camp in October 2016.
2016 evictions
Eviction of the southern sector

On 25 February 2016, the French government received approval from a court in
Lille
Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
to demolish the southern part of the camp.
The section to be demolished was an area of 7.5
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...
s.
There had been a delay in the verdict because charities had petitioned the court to stop the demolition.
Local authorities estimated the population of the whole camp to be 3,700, with between 800 and 1,000 affected by the eviction. Aid groups put the number higher according to a census they had conducted, suggesting there were "at least 3,450 people in the southern part alone, including 300 unaccompanied children".
During the night of 29 February, workers under heavy police guard began to demolish shacks in the encampment.
There was some resistance during the eviction and police clashed with migrants and No Border activists who threw stones.
About 12 structures were set on fire, some by heat from
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...
canisters fired by the police, others by residents of the structures being demolished.
Protests continued into the evening, when migrants blocked the nearby road. Three No Border activists and another person were arrested.
According to aid associations, 80% of people whose shelters were demolished in the eviction relocated to the remaining part of the camp, resulting in overcrowding
and caused MSF to become increasingly concerned about health conditions within the camp. Aid associations said the overcrowding also resulted in inter-community tensions.
Final eviction and demolition
In September 2016, the Minister of the Interior
Bernard Cazeneuve announced that the northern zone of the Calais Jungle would be dismantled and that the entirety of the Jungle would be closed until the end of the year. Refugees were informed of the government's decision through the distribution of thousands of leaflets throughout the Jungle. On Monday, 24 October 2016, the
Government of France
The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...
began the final major
eviction
Eviction is the removal of a Tenement (law), tenant from leasehold estate, rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosure, foreclosed by a mortgagee (often ...
at dawn. It was planned that 6,400 migrants would be moved from the Jungle to 280 temporary reception centres around France, in 170 buses.
Although the days leading up to the closure of the northern zone were marked by violent clashes between the police and refugees, news outlets asserted that the day of the eviction was much calmer than during the southern zone's closure earlier in the spring.
The
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect' ...
of
Pas-de-Calais
The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...
, Fabienne Buccio, announced on Wednesday, 26 October, that the camp had been cleared, but news reporters stated there were still adults in the camp and unaccompanied children were waiting to be processed, the latter of whose information was forwarded to the British government in order to connect them to relatives in the U.K. Although Parisian authorities initially threatened uncooperative migrants with incarceration in administrative detention centers, upon a reevaluation of capacity, migrants were permitted to leave by themselves from Calais either by foot or by train. Whilst some migrants relocated to a camp in
Grande-Synthe, many fled to informal settlements in rural areas across northern France.
On Thursday, 27 October, the UK and French governments were condemned by aid workers from groups such as
Help Refugees and
Save the Children
The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide.
The organization raises money to imp ...
for not respecting the
human rights of children. The 200 unaccompanied children, aged 14 to 17, had been lured out of the camp by promises of transport to an
asylum centre but were then abandoned. After
Baroness Sheehan had intervened, a number of the children ended up being told by police to return to a derelict and unheated makeshift school building in the camp.
Liberal Democrat peer Sheehan had travelled to the camp to witness the eviction.
The final stages of the eviction took place on Wednesday, 2 November. An estimated 1,500 people including children had been sleeping for a week in the shipping containers. Buses took the migrants to asylum centres at undisclosed locations across the country.
Aid groups later reported that many former jungle residents had moved to the streets of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.
Aftermath
A month after the demolition, the Refugee Youth Service (RYS) reported that while a little over half of the migrant children on its
caseload had been relocated into French children's homes, another third—approximately 60 children—could no longer be located by child protection officers since being removed from the camp. The mass disappearance of these children from RYS surveillance echoed a similar loss of contact with nearly 130 children earlier in the year during the March 2016 demolition of the southern part of the Jungle, raising global concerns of exploitation and trafficking.
A few months after the demolition of the Jungle's northern zone, migrants began to return to the area, particularly those who had been refused asylum by the British government. According to figures provided by
Le Monde
(; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
, of the 1,934 minors who had left Calais in 2016, only 468 had been accepted to the U.K., leaving the vast majority of these underage refugees either stranded or missing. Help Refugees reported that by mid-January 2017 between 500 and 1,000 migrants, mostly unaccompanied minors, were
living rough in Calais.
In February 2017, the mayor of Calais,
Natacha Bouchart, faced global controversy for signing a decree banning the distribution of meals to refugees who had returned to the Jungle in order to prevent the reformation of "fixing points" (''points de fixation'') for refugees to regather. Although she claimed the ban to be a "humanly difficult" decision, Bouchart justified this administrative action by citing the harm that had been inflicted upon Calais and its residents as a result of the informal settlements that had long existed on the city's outskirts. The act was denounced by humanitarian organizations including Utopia 56 and L'Auberge des Migrants, who argued that humanitarian aid to refugees residing in Calais would provide a safer and healthier environment for refugees and permanent residents, particularly by preventing hunger-driven theft and infectious diseases.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
published a report in July 2017 called ''Like Living in Hell'', documenting what it described as continuing
human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
abuses by the police against children and adult migrants in the region. It stated that nine months after the eviction, around 500 migrants remained living around Calais. Having interviewed over 60 migrants and more than 20 aid workers, the report noted that police, particularly the
CRS (French
riot police
Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots.
Riot police may be regular police officers who act in the role of riot police in particular situations, or they may be separate unit ...
), were routinely spraying migrants, their possessions and their food and water with
pepper spray
Pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum spray, OC spray, capsaicin spray, mace, or capsicum spray is a Tear gas, lachrymator (tear gas) product containing as its active ingredient the chemical compound capsaicin, which irritates the eyes with burning ...
.
Since the demolition of the Jungle in 2016, there has been a policy of "no fixation points" for migrants to settle in, aiming to stop another large camp from forming.
France 24
France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market.
Based in the Paris suburb ...
,
Calais : Collomb ne veut pas de "point de fixation" pour les migrants
' (23/06/17) Police, including the
Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS), and clearance teams regularly evict migrants from their makeshift camps with new encampments later forming in another or the same location.
[I. Bourke,]
"A matter of political will": There's no end in sight for the refugee crisis in Calais
' (16/12/17) in New Statesman
''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
[M. Bulman,]
The lost childhoods on Britain's doorstep: How growing number of families are waiting in tents to attempt dangerous Channel crossing
' (01/12/18) on ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
''[M. Bulman,]
Calais camp evictions fuelling rise in Channel crossings as situation reaches tipping point, say charities
' (11/09/19) in ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
''[Jenowein, Whitaker, Lindner, ]
Forced Evictions in Calais and Grande-Synthe: 1 August 2018-1 June 2019
' (2019). Human Rights Observers The encampments are dangerous due to exposure and poor living conditions resulting in health difficulties.
[A. Rawsome,]
From periods to pregnancy – the sexual health crisis for Calais refugees
' (26/02/18) in ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' The
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
has repeatedly spoken out about what its
experts say are unacceptable conditions for migrants in the area. A hostile environment is created for the migrants,
[Edmond-Pettitt,]
Territorial Policing and the 'hostile environment' in Calais: from policy to practice
(2018) in ''Justice, Power and Resistance'' with migrants and NGOs supporting migrants reporting violence from the police
[A. Mohdin,]
Calais clamps down as asylum seekers say: 'They just beat us'
' (18/09/19) in ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''[Garcia Bochenek, ]
"Like Living in Hell": Police Abuses Against Child and Adult Migrants in Calais
' (2017) . Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
[E. Vigny, ]
Calais: the police harassment of volunteers
'' (2018). L'Auberge des Migrants and the local administration occasionally banning the distribution of food and water to migrants.
[ Amelia Gentleman,]
Calais mayor bans distribution of food to migrants
' (02/03/17) in ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''[P. Charrier,]
À Calais, des associations dénoncent un arrêté municipal « stigmatisant » envers les migrants
' (01/11/19) in '' La Croix''
On 11 October 2021, a Jesuit priest and two fellow activists started a hunger strike to ask the authorities to stop mistreatments of migrants.
The site of the Calais Jungle was turned into a
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...
.
[M. Hagan,]
Inhabiting A Hostile Environment: The Sanitary Politics Of Life At The Post-Camp Calais Border
(13/05/19) in Society and Space
In popular culture
* 2015: Written with Nadene Ghouri, ''The Lightless Sky'' is Gulwali Passarlay's memoir of his journey from Afghanistan to the UK as a twelve year old. Passarlay's time in the Jungle features in the book.
* 2016: French writer Emmanuel Carrere published a report in the magazine ''XXI'' about Calais and the Jungle titled "Letter to a Woman of Calais".
* 2016: Jérôme Sessini made a photo report for
Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in Paris, New York City, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...
about the Jungle.
*2016: Comic book author
Lisa Mandel
Lisa Mandel (known as, Lisa; born 23 April 1977, Marseille) is a French ''bande dessinée'' comic book author.
With Jul Maroh, Mandel co-founded the Collective of female comics creators against sexism (2015). In 2021, Mandel launched the Exemplaire ...
and sociologist Yasmine Bouagga depict the daily lives of migrants in the Jungle through a blog, ''Les Nouvelles de la jungle'', using interviews and observations from their personal excursions to Calais. They later compiled the comic strips into a book titled ''Les Nouvelles de la jungle de Calais'', which won the Coup de Cœur 2017 of the Centre national de la littérature pour la jeunesse (BnF).
* 2017:
Nicolas Klotz and Élisabeth Perceval launched a
documentary film
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
on the Calais Jungle: ''The Wild Frontier'' (original title: ''L'héroïque lande, la frontière brûle'', France, 225 min.).
* 2017: Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy, who ran the Good Chance theatre in the camp, wrote a play entitled ''
The Jungle
''The Jungle'' is a novel by American author and muckraking-journalist Upton Sinclair, known for his efforts to expose corruption in government and business in the early 20th century.
In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks gathering information ...
''. It premiered at the
Young Vic in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and has since been performed in
New York and
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.
* 2017: Segments of
Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei ( ; , IPA: ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been ...
's general release documentary film ''
Human Flow'' were filmed in the Jungle.
* 2017: Pooja Puri's debut novel ''The Jungle'' tells the story of a teenager in the camp.
* 2017: ''Threads from the Refugee Crisis'', an award-winning graphic novel by
Kate Evans, depicts the work of volunteers in the Jungle and other encampments in northern France and their interactions with residents of the camps.
* 2018: The documentary film ''Calais Children: A Case to Answer'' made by
Sue Clayton followed unaccompanied children before and after the final eviction.
* 2019: ''
Roads
A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved.
The ...
'', a film starring
Fionn Whitehead and
Stéphane Bak and directed by
Sebastian Schipper, includes scenes set in migrant encampments and NGO workplaces in post-Jungle Calais.
See also
*
Basroch refugee camp
*
Channel Tunnel: Illegal immigration
*
Environmental racism in Europe
*
Illegal immigration in the United Kingdom
*
La Linière
*
List of border crossing points in France
*
Schengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...
*
''Welcome'' (2009 film)
References
Further reading
Books
*
*
Reports
*
*
*
*
External links
France-UK Border Research A library of research and primary sources regarding the situation for displaced people at the France-UK border
{{Authority control
Calais migrant crisis (1999–present)
History of Calais
European migrant crisis
2016 disestablishments in France
Squats in France
Evicted squats