UPDATE: 11 October 2024
The situation on the ground has deteriorated even further in the year since the actions and events detailed on this page.
As part of a coalition of humanitarian organisations working in northern France, we sent an open letter to the French authorities, demanding urgent action to improve access to WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) facilities for people on the move. Click here to read the letter, in French and English.
Background
The Water For All / De L’eau Pour Tou-te-s campaign was launched in the summer of 2023 by a coalition of humanitarian NGOs committed to improving the lives of refugees and displaced people in northern France.
Collective Aid, alongside partners Calais Appeal, Calais Food Collective, and Vents Contraires, and with support from Solidarites International, Coalition Eau and others, launched a petition to put pressure on the French government to improve access to water for refugees and displaced people.
The aim was to see all human rights respected and for the French government to provide improved and sufficient water access. At the time, refugees and displaced people had access to an average of just 4.9 litres per person per day in Calais, but the World Health Organisation’s recommended safe minimum is 150 litres per day. A survey we conducted in early 2023 found that approximately one in four people suffered from the skin infection scabies - a painful rash which causes intense itching.
“ Many people have to walk long distances for water. The police are always evicting and stealing tents. People move further away from the city centre... Calais is a place that can make you feel stuck.”
Outcome
More than 3,000 people added their names to the petition urging the French government to accept the recommendations that were made during the 2023 UN Universal Periodic Review which recommended they improve water access for refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced people.
French political figures voiced their support for the campaign and French media reported on the confiscation of water distribution tanks in Calais.
In October 2023, France announced it would accept many of the recommendations made as part of the UN Universal Periodic Review earlier in the year, including:
185 - Take measures to improve water sanitation conditions and ensure continued and safe access to sanitary facilities for all
186 - Increase efforts to provide safe drinking water, sanitation services and emergency shelter for migrants
187 - Ensure water and sanitation are available, accessible, affordable and of adequate quality for all persons across the territory of the French Republic
329 - Strengthen policies to effectively protect the human rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, particularly unaccompanied migrant minors and adolescents
330 - Ensure its policy on migrants and refugees, especially of women and children, are in line with the international norms to ensure their fundamental rights
333 - Ensure the protection of migrants and refugees’ rights, and promote social inclusion
334 - Continue to take steps in the promotion and protection of rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees
338 - Increase the implementation of concrete measures to guarantee the protection of the rights of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons, particularly women and children
342 - Guarantee access to drinking water for all the populations of the overseas departments and regions, migrants and asylum seekers in the north of France
348 - Redouble efforts to guarantee the safety, living conditions and rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, especially children
352 - Take measures to improve the living conditions of migrants and asylum-seekers
354 - Ensure the right of all immigrants and asylum-seekers to have access to legal aid as well as essential services necessary for their subsistence and protect them from any attacks they may be subjected to
355 - Continue efforts to guarantee the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers and improve the services provided to them
In October 2023, following the failure of the French government to act on its commitment to accept many of the recommendations made as part of 2023’s UN Universal Periodic Review, Collective Aid joined a number of humanitarian organisations providing services to people on the move in Northern France in signing an open letter to the French authorities.
In the letter, we called on the French government to provide a concrete timeline of action to ensure that the recommendations to improve access to WASH facilities for refugees and displaced people on the country’s northern coast are met within the mandated two-year time frame.
You can read more about how France denies refugees access to water by visiting our blog:
“We are human beings... of course we need more water. But we come to this country, we don’t have a place to live, and they say ‘it’s not your house, you don’t have papers...’ So what can you do?”
