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“Help us honour those killed on the French-British border”

Given the purpose of this blog, we relay below an appeal launched by the “Working Group on Dead and Missing Persons at the Calais Border”, also called “Groupe décès”, put online a few weeks ago.

“At the time of writing, 6* people have died at the UK-French border since 1 January 2024, adding to the 29 who died in 2023 (*note: between the initial date of this call and the resumption on this blog, 8 new victims were identified, bringing to 13 the number of people who died at the border in Calais since January 1, 2024).

Since 1999, to the best of our knowledge, at least 398 people have died trying to reach the United Kingdom or while blocked at the border, and a large number of people are still missing, victims of the border and the hostile environment. They die as the political leaders who deny them access to free movement remain indifferent; they are hit by HGVs, asphyxiated in containers, electrocuted on railway lines, drowned at sea and by other causes.

It was against this backdrop that the groupe décès (death group) was set up in 2017, composed of people in solidarity with people blocked at the border.

Our aim is to honour the memory of those who died on the Franco-British border and to support their families through various actions:

  • Helping to identify the victims, find and liaise with relatives and families in the informal settlements of northern France and abroad.
  • Documenting and investigating deaths at the border, participating in remembrance work and raising the profile of people killed at the border.
  • To assist families with administrative and funeral procedures, according to their choice and religious convictions.

Families often do not have enough money to finance a repatriation of the body of the deceased, and ask us to organise a burial locally in Calais or Dunkirk.

Each burial is carried out in accordance with religious practices, in particular Islam, and costs a minimum of 2,000 euros to cover the costs of the plot and the ceremony. When some families are unable to cover all or part of the costs, the groupe décès tries to find the remaining funds or make a loan to enable them to mourn with dignity.

Since the end of the 1990s and till 2017, when the groupe décès was set up, many people have were buried in Calais, but for some the memory has been lost. Many graves are abandoned, the identity erased or missing. We would also like to be able to maintain these places of remembrance, the graves and cemeteries.

Our most important goal is not to forget the dead at the border, to make it a place of remembrance, and to denounce and fight against these deadly policies.

Borders kill.

Description of expenditure items

Families often do not have enough money to finance a repatriation of the body of the deceased, and ask us to organise a burial locally in Calais or Dunkirk.

Each burial is carried out in accordance with religious practices, in particular Islam, and costs a minimum of 2,000 euros to cover the costs of the plot and the ceremony. When some families are unable to cover all or part of the costs, the groupe décès tries to find the remaining funds or make a loan to enable them to mourn with dignity.

Since the end of the 1990s and till 2017, when the groupe décès was set up, many people have were buried in Calais, but for some the memory has been lost. Many graves are abandoned, the identity erased or missing. We would also like to be able to maintain these places of remembrance, the graves and cemeteries.

Final recipients of collection

Donations are intended for the groupe décès (burial group) in situations where it is called upon by the families it supports, when they are unable to finance all or part of the funeral costs, in accordance with their wishes.

Project leaders

The groupe décès (burial group) is made up of people who have been involved in various ways on the French-British border.

Project location

France”

Link : https://www.helloasso.com/associations/le-reveil-voyageur/collectes/help-us-honor-those-killed-on-the-french-british-border


OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Maël Galisson (11 avril 2024). “Help us honour those killed on the French-British border” Calais, frontière meurtrière | Calais, deadly border. Consulté le 22 juin 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/w74i


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