Presenting data collected by the Dunkirk Legal Support Team CONTENTS

Dates Of Research Report Authors Acknowledgements

March and April 2016 Natalie Stanton Refugee Rights Europe would like to express its gratitude Marta Welander and appreciation towards the Survey Design Musashi Fujimura Dunkirk Legal Support Team for seeking out this partnership with Refugee Rights Europe, Dunkirk Legal Support Team Graphic Design allowing us to gain an insight into the humanitarian and human rights situation Pippa Stanton Field Researchers experienced by people living in Me And You Create the Dunkirk camp. www.meandyoucreate.com Dunkirk Legal Support Team [email protected] The team’s resilience and tireless work while surveying hundreds of camp Statistical Analysis Photo Credits residents is a humbling and invaluable endeavour which Mohamad Alhusein Saoud Elisa Vari helps to fill gaps on an [email protected] under-reported context in Diarmaid Finnerty and around Dunkirk. With the support of Seth Wolpin

Refugee Rights Europe was formerly operating as the Refugee Rights Data Project (RRDP). This report was originally published under the previous organisation name. ARTICLECONTENTS ONE : All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights...

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12 A mere 40 kilometres from the Far less spoken of than camp residents. This assessment helped Calais camp in northern France, its nearby neighbour, document and highlight the dire conditions and very poor humanitarian standards that a settlement in the Dunkirk the Dunkirk camp is under-researched. It does existed in the camp whilst also calling for suburb of Grande-Synthe has not receive the same level action on a number of specific points.1 been host to thousands of of media attention, or The camp was later relocated to a new site refugees and displaced people such vocal outcry for nearby, where Médecins Sans Frontières help by volunteers and at any one time. built a large number of wooden shelters, grassroots organisations. transforming the landscape from a muddy In early January 2016, a sea of tents into rows of identical shelters group of eight long-term along pebble stone paths. In this context, volunteers issued a detailed, the Dunkirk Legal Support Team set out independent assessment of to conduct a first-hand research study, the situation in the camp. aiming to gain an insight into humanitarian At the time, government standards, the overall human rights restrictions were placed on situation and unmet needs among those volunteers trying to provide living in the camp. aid and support to the

1 ‘Grande Synthe Refugee Camp Assessment by Volunteers’, 3 January 2016. For further details, contact Maddie Harris ([email protected]) or Phoenix Clough ([email protected]) 1 A team of five long- They achieved this by delivering surveys Following completion of the research, these term volunteers to each shelter in sequence, then revisiting answers were translated into English. any shelters that (for a number of reasons) affiliated with The data collected was processed and were unavailable the first time round. analysed by Refugee Rights Europe in the Dunkirk Legal Having revisited all missing shelters at least June 2016. Detailed notes concerning the Support Team once, they managed to collect a total of data processing and analysis, as well as invited residents of 506 surveys, or 29.8% of the estimated 2 limitations to the methodology as identified population of 1,700. each of the camp’s by Refugee Rights Europe, are available on wooden shelters to In order to collect both quantitative and request. complete a survey. qualitative data, the team used a semi- The study is, to our best knowledge, the structured questionnaire featuring a most extensive research study to take place number of open-ended questions. The in the Dunkirk camp to-date, and thus helps questionnaires were translated into the fill important information gaps. Some of three main languages/dialects spoken in the key research findings are now made the Dunkirk camp: Kurdish Sorani, Kurdish public through this report. Badini and Farsi. On almost every occasion, the forms were filled out in the mother tongue of respondents to ensure that our data was both accurate and rich in detail.

2 Dunkirk Legal Support Team estimated that the population at the time of the research reached approximately 1,700 people. The total number of surveys filled out was greater than 506, but Refugee Rights Europe later had to discard a number of surveys due to signs of corrupted or incomplete data. Therefore, the number of surveys analysed was 506, or 28.9% of the estimated population; which constitutes a strong sample in statistical terms.

2 There were a significant number of families in the camp. ARTICLE ONE : All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights...

At the time of the The data collected by the Dunkirk were men and boys, and 10.1% women and study, there were Legal Support Team suggests that the girls. The average age of all respondents an estimated 1,700 demographic composition of the Dunkirk was 23.8 years old, while the average age camp consisted of a vast majority of Iraqi among minors included in the study was people residing in Kurds (81.9%), followed by Iranians (13%), just 12 years old. the Dunkirk camp. as well as small minorities of Vietnamese, On average, respondents had spent 4.8 Syrian and Kuwaiti residents. months in France - a figure which was There were a significant number of families slightly higher for minors (5 months). in the camp. Some 89.9% of respondents

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At the time of the This percentage was higher Are You Unwell? for women (22.2%) and study, a significant All Respondents slightly lower for children number of camp (6.8%). Overall, the data residents (more than indicated that older people 50 people, or 14.9%) tended to be in relatively reported that they worse health than their were unwell. younger peers. Analysis of the data indicates that those who had spent a longer period of time in France were more likely to be unwell than those who had arrived more recently.

More than half (51.3%) of respondents reported receiving on-site medical help on at least one occasion whilst in Dunkirk, which signals a strong presence of service providers from the health sector.

Are You Unwell? Are You Unwell? Women Only Minors Only

Yes 6.8%

5 It is striking that almost a quarter of women Are You Pregenant? respondents (23.3%), reported that they Women Only were pregnant at the time of the study - a figure which included one underage girl. These figures raise particular concerns given the unhealthy environment in the camp, and the absence of adequate care for women who are at different stages of childbearing, let alone for giving birth.

Moreover, around 4% of respondents Do You Have A Disability? reported that they had at least one disability. The conditions of the Dunkirk All Respondents camp are likely to be particularly unsuitable for these individuals, given the absence of specialised support and the overall demanding living conditions.

Yes 4%

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Among the The longer people had Have You Experienced Police Violence? respondents, 42.3% been in France, the more All Respondents reported that they likely they were to have experienced police violence. had experienced There was also a correlation 3 police violence. between individuals who had experienced police This figure was somewhat violence and those who had lower among minors, at had their fingerprints taken, 30%. Meanwhile, 13.3% of suggesting that the process women and girls reported of taking fingerprints may that they had been be accompanied by a subjected to this form of heavy-handed approach violence. Analysis of the by police. data suggests that police violence affected all age groups equally.

3 The Dunkirk Legal Support Team chose to use the term ‘police brutality’ in the survey. 7 ARTICLE ONE : All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights...

More than a Interestingly, the figure Have You Been Detained Or Jailed? quarter (28%) of is higher among women, among whom 37.5% said All Respondents all respondents they had been detained. reported that they However, it is children had been detained aged below 18 years of during their stay age who have been most in France. heavily impacted by the detention process, with some 47% claiming to have experienced this since arriving in the country.

The study found that respondents who had spent longer in France were more likely to have been detained or jailed than those who had been there a shorter period of time.

Have You Been Detained Or Jailed? Have You Been Detained Or Jailed? Women Only Minors Only

86 Those who had spent longer time in France were more likely to have been detained or jailed. ARTICLE ONE : All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights...

It is deeply concerning that 54.4% of Do You Know How To Seek Asylum In The respondents reported that they did not Country You Are Heading To? have knowledge of asylum processes in All Respondents their target country. This figure was somewhat lower among women (50%) and minors (39.4%).

The lack of asylum information is counterproductive to any sustainable solution to the situation in Dunkirk and the wider region. This vast knowledge gap relating to asylum processes among refugees and displaced people in Europe has been recognised by a number of grassroots initiatives. The Dunkirk Legal Support Team, the Calais Legal Centre, and the Refugee Info Bus which is present in the larger Calais camp are all working relentlessly to tackle this issue. Meanwhile, efforts by the authorities, to our knowledge, remain very limited.

The study did not show any correlation between respondents’ knowledge of asylum law and their experience of being detained or jailed; those with a stronger understanding were just as likely to have been detained as their peers.

Do You Know How To Seek Asylum In The Do You Know How To Seek Asylum In The Country You Are Heading To? Country You Are Heading To? Women Only Minors Only

10 Any future government decision to shut down the camp ... is unlikely to be conducive to any sustainable solution. ARTICLE ONE : All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights...

The situation in the The research conducted and displaced people. By the same token, the proportion Dunkirk camp tends by the Dunkirk Legal of people having been detained was very similar in both to be relatively Support Team in spring camps (49.5% for Calais; 46.7% for Dunkirk). 2016 – which to our The main discrepancy between the two studies were the under-reported, knowledge constituted findings relating to health concerns. In Calais, 76.7% of particularly when the largest ever research respondents reported having experienced at least one compared to its next study to take place in the health issue since arriving in camp (many of them ongoing). camp – is therefore of high door neighbour, the Only 14.9% of Dunkirk respondents were unwell at the time importance. Not only does Calais camp. of the study.5 it document the situation, but underlines the urgency In both camps, there is an alarming absence of asylum of resolving the unhealthy information, with 74.3% of Calais respondents reporting and unsustainable that they did not have access to this information compared environment in and around to 54.4% in Dunkirk. the settlement. Since this research was conducted, the situation in Dunkirk Many of the research has changed once again, and the French government findings resonate with has taken over management of the camp. We are yet to those of the Calais camp, as see whether the human experience will improve in any outlined in Refugee Rights meaningful manner. Europe’s previous report ‘The Long Wait’ which was In any event, the research findings suggest that any future published in April government decision to shut down the camp or to reduce 2016.4 While the access to only certain groups of displaced people – without experience of police providing a viable alternative – is unlikely to be conducive violence by Dunkirk to any sustainable solution for the displaced women, residents (42.3%) was lower men and children in Dunkirk and its surrounding area. than in Calais (75.9%), The majority of people are lacking information regarding these figures nonetheless asylum processes and have been living in limbo and dire indicate a similarly endemic conditions for many months, which suggests that a viable presence of this form of solution is long overdue. violence against refugees

4 Refugee Rights Europe (2016) ‘The Long Wait: Filling Data Gaps Relating to Refugees and Displaced People in the Calais Camp’, available here: www.RefugeeRights.org.uk/Reports 5 These two findings are not directly comparable, but nonetheless suggest a potential aggravated health situation in Calais compared to that of Dunkirk. 12 www.refugeerights.org.uk | [email protected] | @Refugee_RE