Dangerous Jungle liaisons

British volunteers exploit African, Asian migrants for sex

YOUNG British women working as volunteers in the squalid Jungle camp in Calais are allegedly having sex with the migrants they are supposed to be helping.

Some aid workers have slept with “multiple partners in one day” and then continued on “in the same vein the following day”, said a volunteer. One British woman was described as having a “very bad reputation in the Jungle” after numerous liaisons with African and Asian migrants.

Others have allegedly forged sexual relationships with teenage boys under the age of consent.

Charity bosses said predatory behaviour among volunteers was a “serious problem” and they had implemented a “zero tolerance policy” on relationships with migrants.

But they admit it is difficult to enforce because the Jungle which has a population of 10 000, is not recognised as an official refugee camp.

Hundreds of British students and graduates travel to Calais to hand out food and clothes, and help migrants apply for asylum in the UK.

Many team up with organisations which offer no training and are not even registered charities. Some young women, and men, simply turn up at the Jungle on their own.

A male volunteer highlighted the issue on a Facebook page for Jungle workers called Calais People to People Solidarity, which has more than 36000 members.

He wrote: “I have heard of boys, believed to be under the age of consent, having sex with volunteers.

“I have heard of volunteers having sex with multiple partners in one day, only to carry on in the same vein the following day. And I know that I’m only hearing a small part of a wider scale of abuse.”

The volunteer said the majority of cases involved liaisons between female volunteers and male migrants. “This impression objectifies women in the camp and increases the risks.”

These sexual encounters are damaging for migrants who are “in an entirely unequal position of power” and “dependent on the aid provided by volunteers”.

Maya Konforti, who works for Auberge des Migrants, an established charity at the camp, told how a British woman had built up a “bad reputation” in the camp by sleeping with many men. “If she had been volunteering with Auberge she would have been thrown out, but… she was here independently.” “She found the right refugee and now she’s with him back in the UK. That’s what I hear.”

Auberge des Migrants has a code of conduct that condemns “potentially exploitative” sexual relationships between volunteers and migrants.

But Konforti said the rules were impossible to enforce because the Jungle is not an official refugee camp. “When you have volunteers and refugees in this environment, it’s going to happen,” she said.