Quelle: The Guardian

Church attacks David Cameron’s lack of compassion over asylum crisis

Bishop of Dover pleads for PM to ‘rediscover what it is to be human’ as No 10 reveals a joint plan with France to boost security around Eurotunnel

Mark Townsend and Daniel Boffey in London and Emma Graham-Harrison in Calais

The Church of England has made a dramatic intervention in the migrant crisis, delivering a stern rebuke to David Cameron for his “unhelpful” rhetoric.

Speaking with the backing of the church, the bishop of Dover accused senior political figures, including the prime minister, of forgetting their humanity and attacked elements of the media for propagating a “toxicity” designed to spread antipathy towards migrants.

After another tense day in Calais, following a night in which fewer migrants tried to enter the Eurotunnel terminal in northern France, the bishop, the Right Rev Trevor Willmott, urged Cameron to ameliorate his 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,” he said. “We need to rediscover what it is to be a human, and that every human being matters.”

On Thursday the prime minister drew international opprobrium when he described migrants trying to reach Britain as a “swarm” and promised to introduce strong-arm tactics, including extra sniffer dogs and fencing, at Calais. On Saturday No 10 announced it had also agreed with France to bolster security around Eurotunnel, with reinforcements joining the 200 guards already on patrol. Extra CCTV, infra red detectors and floodlighting will also be funded.

Throughout Saturday disquiet continued to rise over Cameron’s handling of the issue. 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.”

Save the Children also voiced dismay at the way political discourse had taken a “sour turn”. In a piece published online by the Observer, Justin Forsyth, chief executive of the international charity, echoed Willmott’s call to remember the fact that the migrants were humans and many were refugees fleeing horrific abuse or extreme danger. “We are in danger of shutting our hearts to the desperation of the people pleading at the door, refugees not economic migrants,” he said, adding that Britain needed to pull its weight in accepting more refugees.

Pressure on Cameron also grew with the deputy mayor of Calais, Philippe Mignonet, branding the prime minister “racist” and Labour’s acting leader, Harriet Harman, revealing that she had written to Cameron accusing him of using “incendiary and divisive language”. She called on him to demand compensation from France for hauliers, holidaymakers and truckers affected by the chaos.

In other signs of the unease towards Britain’s approach to the issue, the UN special representative on migration, Peter Sutherland, said Britain’s attitude towards the crisis suggested the lessons of Nazism had not been learnt.

“Many of those in Calais are refugees, just as the Jewish people were in 1939,” he said. “They can prove they were – and are – persecuted and would be persecuted if they were returned.”

Reports from Calais on Saturday indicated that the situation had calmed down, with French security appearing to have ramped up their numbers in areas where migrants attempt to board trains and lorries. At the start of the weekend dozens of migrants could be seen trekking from the “jungle” camp to try their luck, a walk that takes more than two hours each way. But the groups gathered near Channel tunnel entry points and Eurotunnel freight loading areas were a fraction of the numbers that stormed police lines earlier in the week.