Next to the busy junction of Porte de la Chapelle in northern Paris around 300 people were sleeping in tents and under highway bridges. They chose this place because it is in front of a camp for new arrivals. This camp provides around 400 beds. From this camp one should be transferred to a more permanent place – vacating place for new people. The people waiting outside receive a paper with a date, on which they are entitled to queue in order to request a place inside. However, almost every time they hear that they should return tomorrow.

The life outside is hard during this cold and rainy summer in Paris. Some have blankets or sleeping bags but too many people haven’t got enough to keep themselves warm during the nights. They have no access to clothes and showers. There are not enough toilets, only little fresh water is available. The only way to get access to these provisions is to enter the camp. These living conditions are inhuman, especially once you have realized where these people came from and what they have been through. Because most of the people are very weakened by the dangerous journey, they especially need care and a safe place. 

 Other people who are already in their asylum procedure neither have a home nor a shelter. For example Awad, a young man from Afghanistan who is around 20 years old, has been in Paris for 8 months already. He has papers and his asylum procedure has already started. But roof and shower are not available for him. He is just waiting and doesn’t know what to do or where to go.

Everyday the camp takes in a small number of people. So, everyday people queue waiting for hours sometimes even through the night. When the camp starts taking people in the military – apparently only white men – starts to control the queue, sometimes with violent actions, holding pepper spray and guns.

Refugees who live inside the camp can enter the camp by showing the camp’s card. The only other people allowed to enter are volunteers working for a French NGO. This NGO has a special deal with the state to work inside the camp, allowing them to distribute clothes etc.

Two criticisms can be made here. Firstly, this NGO only works inside the camp, whereas much need is outside. There are enough clothes and sleeping bags in their warehouse to help those outside but the deal with the state prohibits them to distribute outside the gate. Because of this, registration in the camp is necessary  for the people to get access to provisions.  In this way, the NGO is cooperating with the state’s goal of registration of refugees and migrants. Should this be the task of an NGO?

Secondly, there are people among the refugees who could help with the necessary work but they are not allowed without a European passport. For example, we met Ahmad in front of the camp who speaks five languages. He offered to translate but his offer was rejected because he didn’t have the right passport. In our view, this is a lost chance, because it would mean a lot for someone in such inhumane circumstances to regain some of his human dignity by bearing responsibility, using his skills. Another man, Faisal, asked us where he could help. “You can feel good here because you can do something and help us, but I want to do something as well!”. The NGO, not responding to these requests, is seemingly not interested in what real solidarity looks like and it should be asked who this deal is serving.

However, it is not only this NGO which is not responding to the requests of refugees to be able to life as an independent human. To feel human it is important to be in touch with friends and family. An important tool for these relationships is the phone. One day, Awad charged his phone in a pharmacy next to the traffic square, but the next time he came to the shop the owner refused his request saying that it is “of course” not possible “to come here everyday” and that he should try it somewhere else. Did this man realize that Awad and the others live on the streets everyday and that for them there are no opportunities left than to ask, to be dependent on others?

Jimmy who sleeps under the highway bridge in a tent told me that Paris is also called the city of fragrances and love. „But here I only smell terrible scents. And love? How do we experience love here? From whom?“ He has a long journey behind him. Through the Sahara, where some of memebers of his group died, to the coast and from there they floated 4 days on the Mediterranean sea without food and water. In Italy he saw refugees and migrants living in the streets, unable to find a job. He decided to travel further. He wants to work to give his family a peaceful life.

Walking around the camp we noticed that a lot of people spoke German. It turned out that they have lived in Germany and had heard that their asylum request is being transferred back to another country. However, going back to Italy, Romania, Greece or another southern/eastern country is no option. In most of these countries, like Bulgaria, a life for newcomers is even harder because of racism and poverty among the population and institutions like the police.

Moreover, this year Bulgaria took only a few hundred people and rejected several thousands. So they hope that an asylum request in France will give them the opportunity for a real asylum procedure. One of the boys in Paris said, while he was halfway laughing, halfway crying, that perhaps he should cut off his fingertips, because he is afraid to be deported back to Bulgaria. Hadas, a young Pakistanian lawyer, had been asked by the Taliban to join them because he speaks many languages. Therefore he fled his country, but unfortunately he experienced even more violence in Europe. He saw Bulgarian police beating up people in the streets without reason. He never experienced something like this in his life before.

In the city centre just a few streets away from Port the la Chapelle the „good life“ is being lived. Expensive restaurants, museums and shops are overloaded with tourists from countries all over the world. Here, every bed is warm, soft and secure. Here, you don’t see anything of the other life on the streets. The biggest difference between the tourists and those living in the streets? Their passport.