The Church of England has intervened in the Calais migrant crisis, backing the Bishop of Dover, the Rt Rev Trevor Willmott, who rebuked the Prime Minister for his "unhelpful" rhetoric.
“We’ve become an increasingly harsh world, and when we become harsh with each other and forget our humanity then we end up in these standoff positions,” said the bishop. “We need to rediscover what it is to be a human, and that every human being matters.”
On Thursday (30 July), David Cameron described migrants trying to reach Britain as a “swarm” and promised to provide extra sniffer dogs and security fencing at Calais.
Two days later, the government announced it had made an agreement with the French authorities to provide additional reinforcements to the 200 guards already on patrol and that more CCTV cameras, infra red detectors and floodlighting would be funded.
Bishop Willmott said: “To put them [migrants and refugees] all together in that very unhelpful phrase just categorises people and I think he could soften that language – and that doesn’t mean not dealing with the issue. It means dealing with the issue in a non-hostile way.”
The Church's criticism has added to a growing backlash against David Cameron's response to the crisis. The Refugee Council accused the Prime MIister of "inflammatory ... irresponsible, dehumanising language". Peter Sutherland, the UN Secretary-General's special representative on international migration, said: “Many of those in Calais are refugees, just as the Jewish people were in 1939. They can prove they were – and are – persecuted and would be persecuted if they were returned.” Philippe Mignonet, the deputy mayor of Calais, said the comment was "racist".
The Prime Minister's words were also criticised by Andy Burnham, the Labour leadership candidate and the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron.
[Ekk/4]
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