The Calais jungle is the name given to the the shantytown near the city of Calais, where migrants live while they attempt to enter the United Kingdom by stowing away on ferries, cars, or trains travelling through the Port of Calais or the Eurotunnel. The migrants who live in the “Jungle” of Calais are a mix of refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants from Darfur, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Eritrea.
About 5,000 migrants are living in the Jungle of Calais. There is now also a second camp nearby in Dunkirk, called Grande-Synthe, which hosts around 2,500 migrants.
Jérôme Sessini went both to the Jungle and Grande-Synthe over the last few months, documenting the places where the migrants live, the failed attempts to join the UK and the constant police presence. Jérôme Sessini also witnessed the dismantling of a large part of the Jungle Camp, which was decided on March 2016.
Jérôme Sessini’s story was published in De Standaard, Le Figaro Magazine, TIME Lightbox and other international media.
