France must provide Calais migrants with water, toilets & showers – top court

‘The French government must provide migrants sleeping rough in the city of Calais with water and sanitation facilities, the country’s highest administrative court has ruled. Authorities have warned that could lead to emergence of new ‘Jungle’-type camp.
The Conseil d’Etat (Council of State) upheld a June 26 ruling by a lower court in Lille, which ruled that the state must supply migrants with running water, toilets and showers.
The Interior Ministry and the city of Calais previously appealed the court’s ruling, claiming that providing such services would lead to new ‘Jungles’, referring to the notorious migrant camp that was bulldozed in the port city last October.
The Council of State said in a Monday statement that poor conditions currently being experienced by migrants in the city “reveal a failure by the public authorities that has exposed these people to inhuman or degrading treatment,” Reuters reported.
“These shortcomings are a serious and unlawful infringement on a fundamental freedom,” it continued, stating that the lower court had been within its rights to rule that the government must provide migrants with water and sanitation facilities.’
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