“The smugglers are despicable people, we agree but attacking the smugglers is not the goal”explains Sunday, November 13 on franceinfo Claire Millot, general secretary of the association Hello located in Calais and which helps migrants. She was reacting to the latest figures from the maritime prefecture: at least 142 migrants rescued in the past 24 hours off Calais aboard makeshift boats.
“The goal is that the smugglers are no longer necessary”, says the representative of the association. She explains that “It’s the fact that the border is forbidden that generates smugglers. It’s because we don’t have the right to cross that we have to call on them.” For Claire Millot, the solutions are elsewhere. According to her, it is necessary “either the migrants have a legal way to cross into England, or they no longer need or want to go to England.” And for that, France must be able to welcome them according to her.
“When we have hundreds or thousands of people in Calais, if we welcome them to France by giving them the possibility of working very quickly, these people will integrate. They are only asking for that.”
Claire Millot, general secretary of Salamat franceinfo
For the secretary general of the association, it is not a question of welcoming “the whole earth”. Supporting figures, she specifies that“currently there are 2 for 1,000 asylum seekers in France. Which is nothing at all. In Lebanon it is one in three.”
“We don’t do enough but we mostly hurt”she analyzes before continuing: “Currently, we try to disgust them to be there, says Claire Millot, They live in appalling conditions which can only make them want to move to England.”In England they are accepted, she points out, they manage to find a black job, housing and lead a life that is not the one they had dreamed of but they manage to live in a normal way.
Regarding the relief and aid provided to migrants, Claire Millot affirms that only the bare minimum is done: “Still happy the authorities pull them out of the water, they are not allowed to drown but they are not rescued or treated, they are not given dry clothes.” She explains that she is destitute and lacks the means to help them: “We see them arrive soaked, barefoot… It’s not normal”, she is indignant. “We donate what we have for dry clothes but we don’t have much because our main role in the morning is to bring breakfast, tea or coffee.”