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France: Human Rights Watch Says Police Abusing Migrants in Calais

HeadlineJul 27, 2017

In France, human rights groups warn police are abusing migrants in the northern city of Calais, as they return to the site of a former camp known as “The Jungle” in the hopes of crossing into the United Kingdom. Bénédicte Jeannerod, the director of Human Rights Watch France, says police have routinely confiscated sleeping bags and clothing from migrants, while pepper-spraying them and confiscating food and water.

Bénédicte Jeannerod: “Police forces use pepper spray against migrants who are sleeping, or disrupt food distribution, against the food of the migrants, for example. This is a use of force which is unjustified. It is disproportionate and constitutes a violation of human rights and the protections that these people have a right to.”

Last November, French police dismantled the Calais refugee camp, scattering thousands of asylum seekers—many of them unaccompanied children seeking to reunite with relatives in the U.K.

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