In Pictures

Gallery|Humanitarian Crises

In Dunkirk refugee camp, a life of muddy uncertainty

‘No one should be left to live like this,’ say volunteers working at the refugee camp in France.

Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
Single men comprise Dunkirk’s population mostly, but there are approximately 200 children at the camp now. The children are especially susceptible to respiratory illnesses and diarrhoea caused by the cold and poor sanitary conditions. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
By Elian Hadj-Hamdi and Kelly Lynn Lunde
Published On 14 Jan 2016

Grand Synthe, France – Sandwiched between a suburban housing estate and a community football field, a few thousand mostly Kurdish refugees are living a life of soiled uncertainty in an informal camp just outside Dunkirk.

The majority of refugees in the Dunkirk camp, as well in as the more infamous Calais Refugee Camp 40km to the west along the northern coast, are hoping to reach the UK. Many have relatives and jobs waiting for them once they arrive.

However, a recently erected five-metre fence topped with coils of razor wire around the port at Calais has hindered their journey. Among other measures, the fence is part of a £12 million ($17m) plan Britain agreed to in 2014 to stop the entry of refugees from the city. It is making the crossing extremely difficult and dangerous for those who can’t afford the exorbitant prices that smugglers charge. It is also encouraging refugees to try to cross via the Dunkirk port.

Currently the number of people in the camp has increased to nearly 3,000, with more arriving each day, the majority from Syria, Iraq and Iran.

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French authorities have informed the local French community that the camp will be relocated soon to a yet undetermined location. Plans include a camp that would meet basic humanitarian standards and provide a larger capacity than Dunkirk.

READ MORE: Rain and restrictions blight refugees in Dunkirk

Refugees and volunteers express frustration with how they have been treated by the police, especially when the government has offered no aid and informal groups of international volunteers have provided the bulk of the relief.

Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
Refugees wait for water to boil on a makeshift stove made from car tyre rims donated by British volunteers. 'The volunteers work tirelessly but no one should be left to live like this. In ankle-deep mud, with no hot water. No information. Taking dangerous risks, in some cases every day, trying to get to England,' said Wendy Meyers, an independent volunteer from the UK, who quit her job to continue her work in the camp. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
Refugees in Dunkirk camp are usually provided with enough daily food by various volunteers. Some moved from the nearby camp in Calais because of the food supply as well as the safer social environment. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
Electricity in the camp is extremely limited and most people are left in the dark as soon as the sun sets. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
A refugee collects potatoes from the ground after 20 tents burned down the night before. Fire is the only available heat source in the camp and with the highly flammable synthetic fabrics of tents and blankets so closely positioned, fires are a consistent threat. [Elian Hadj-Hamdi/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
After living in Paris for a year, 30-year-old Ahmad Muhammed from Kirkuk, Iraq, decided to join relatives in the UK. He hopes to start a restaurant business. 'Nobody can rest and relax in these tents. You can’t live in a tent your whole life,' he said. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
A refugee raises a Kurdish national flag under a French flag in a tree on the outskirts of the camp as a sign of respect while others watch from below, singing Kurdish national songs. Despite the lack of aid and assistance from the French government, several of the refugees present insist on gratitude for the country allowing them to stay as they wait in limbo to get to the UK. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
A young refugee puts on shoes outside the tent he shares with a friend on the perimeter of the camp. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
A pathway leading through a cluster of tents that have been donated by a variety of different groups and individuals. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and Doctors of the World are the only formal and established aid organisations present in the camp. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
Cousins Rawand, 25, and Sardam Imad, 13, from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq arrived a few days earlier. Volunteers gave the family a tent to stay in, which they set up inside an old US Army tent to give further protection from the rain. They are hoping to join relatives in the UK. [Elian Hadj-Hamdi/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
Water and rubbish merge in a central part of the camp where a football field once was. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
Romel, a young refugee who declined to give his last name, talks to his mother on Skype near the centre of the camp. Romel arrived in the middle of November 2015. He left his hometown, the recently embattled city of Kirkuk in Iraq, to go to the UK. His journey took him through Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and central Europe before he arrived on the northern coast of France. [Elian Hadj-Hamdi/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
Karzan Mohammed, 21, from Sulaymaniyah, is fluent in English and hopes to begin a career as an engineer. He can’t remember how long he’s been living in Dunkirk. 'You forget everything here. Every day, it’s just about making food and how you are going to do that,' he said. [Elian Hadj-Hamdi/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
16-year-old Rasull Haji from Ranya, a small village outside Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, shares a tent with a friend. Haji arrived at Grande-Synthe in October 2015 and hopes to finish high school and open his own pizza restaurant. He hopes to make it to the UK, though he is unsure how. Hopping on the train has become increasingly dangerous as French police are notorious for their aggression and prices for smugglers who organise various ways across have been reported to cost anything between US$2,000 and $12,000. [Elian Hadj-Hamdi/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
A refugee washes his hands outside his tent, using a headlamp after dark. Running water is limited to two spouts where only 20 chemical toilets are available as well as a small number of unheated showers. But the lack of adequate facilities among a swelling population helps to spread disease and makes it difficult to maintain basic personal hygiene. [Elian Hadj-Hamdi/Al Jazeera]
Kurdish refugees, Dunkirk camp/ Please Do Not Use
Young men listen to music as night falls over the camp in Grande-Synthe, France. With even the simplest of facilities missing, these rudimentary stoves are essential for cooking as well as for keeping warm, and can be found throughout the camp. [Elian Hadj-Hamdi/Al Jazeera]