Where do we draw the (phone) line?

Increasing destruction of phones by authority figures in Calais | Phones are a lifeline for displaced people | The ethical concerns around phone distributions

We drive the Refugee Info Bus down the motorway, waving to some guys we know walking along the street. People shout and wave, they know we are coming. We arrive at the distribution zone, park, start unpacking the van. The generator is pulled out, revving as it gets turned on to provide essential charge for mobile phones. The Wifi mast is raised, the news articles handed out. Everything is going well, a few issues with sim cards here and there, a few questions about the UK. All in a days work. But then — someone approaches you looking particularly downtrodden. What’s up brother, are you ok? He simply hands you his phone, and it is destroyed. Smashed all over the front and back. The camera shattered. The enclosure is bent and falling apart. The man says one word.

Police.

Sadly, this is a daily occurrence in Calais. In the five major points where people live - all outside, and all in tents - clearances occur every week, sometimes more than once. When this happens, not only are refugees’ only shelter and protection from the weather taken away, but so are their personal belongings. Often, their phones are taken away, thrown on the ground, and smashed with batons by the CRS.

Ibrahim, who lives in Calais, says this:

“I see police, I run away, and my phone fell on the floor. The police see my phone and first he hits with his foot. Then he hits by stick. He tells me “degage [clear off]!” And I don’t come back. But I watch him pick up my phone and throw in the garbage. I wait 30 minutes and go get my phone. And see now? Phone not work. Phone broken.”

As volunteers for organisations such as Help Refugees, Refugee Info Bus, and Refugee Youth Service among many others in Calais, we feel responsible to aid people in these communities as much as possible. A phone is not just a phone line, it is a computer in their pocket. It is a navigator. It is a camera. It is their only connection to a world that so often pushes them to the edge of humanity. Only yesterday, a young man used our wifi to call his wife and name his 3 month old baby. We provide services such as wifi, charging, news, and information about asylum and legal rights, but so much of this is insignificant without a smart phone.

Naturally, the first idea to combat this ever increasing issue is phone distributions. Making a list of especially vulnerable people (minors, women, mentally or physically ill) and recording who needs phones first. Doing a donation drive specifically for smart phones. Fund-raising, promoting, contacting phone companies. But…

Phones are the highest commodity item that could ever be distributed. Unlike clothes, food, water, wood, they are not easily disposible and cannot be found anywhere else without access to money. It is also incredibly hard to decide who needs access to a mobile phone most. An Afghan man who has two young children back home whom he hasn’t spoken to in months? Or a young boy who has just arrived in Calais and just had his phone stolen?

Chris, a fellow volunteer for the Refugee Info Bus, says this about phone distribution: “people approach you with smashed phones and it’s their lifeline, and so much of our job in Calais is trying to fix people’s immediate needs — food, water, shelter, etc. However, we have to keep things fair and equal. Therefore, we would technically have to give people the same/similar phones, make sure we had enough for everyone, and set up a team of volunteers who’s core role is distributing phones so that it doesn’t become the core function of other integral services. We’d also have to assess the needs of individuals and set criteria for who can get a new phone and who can’t. Despite the effort involved, I feel it would be worthwhile, as you can see the effect of a new phone on someone’s wellbeing and happiness, and phones are a lifeline to family and friends elsewhere.”

With a population of approximately 700 people living in Calais, one of our overarching missions is to try and make distributions as fair and equal as possible. Five different communities of people live on the streets and we need to make sure we don’t prioritise any one community over another, as this will cause unnecessary and avoidable tensions. Avoiding any kind of tension is completely necessary to keep our projects going and to be able to continue our vital aid work. This means that we would require over 700 smart phones in order to even start doing a phone distribution. This isn’t impossible, but it’s very very unlikely that we would manage to collect so many working, unlocked, similar smart phones.

So what’s the solution? Currently the Refugee Youth Service, and Mobile Refugee Support who operate in Dunkirk, are the only organisations that distribute phones to displaced people. At the moment, RYS have zero phones to distribute, as they are completely reliant on donations. The amazing Facebook group Phone Credit for Refugees and Displaced People provide phone credit to refugees living around the world, and this is also solely based on donations. Their volunteers are dealing with many more requests than they can handle right now, and will it ever end? I am not sure whether we will ever receive enough phone donations in order to undertake a full phone distribution. In this bleak situation, we dream of the day when we can say ‘yes!’ to our friends whom we support every day when they ask us about fixing their phones, or obtaining a new one for them.

Ideally, we would have a phone technician repairing phones that get broken and then giving them back to the same people. We would have a team of people organising donation drives of unlocked, working smart phones, and then preparing them for distribution with sim cards and credit. Unfortunately, lack of funds, resources, and volunteers prevent us from being able to do this.

In the meantime, we are recording and documenting these violent and calculated abuse tactics that are being used by French authorities to target refugees. This kind of manipulative and corrupt exploitation is a daily occurrence and it is currently increasing in frequency. This is not acceptable. We will continue documenting these abuses, raising awareness and researching solutions until it ends.

Tahlia is a volunteer with Refugee Info Bus.