A volunteer’s view from Grande-Synthe: How this summer’s extreme heat has amplified state violence against asylum seekers by Grace Scott McDowall

‘How has it come to this?’ was the question I asked myself each morning as I arrived on the distribution site in Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, whilst volunteering for an NGO earlier this summer.

By 9:45, temperatures were already climbing towards 30 degrees in the dusty, litter strewn area in which the organisation distributes hygiene products to those waiting to cross the Channel. As volunteers set up gazebos for the ‘community hub’ – an area providing phone charging and information for new arrivals – men, women and children of all ages rushed to sit underneath them on the baking ground. In this unprecedented heat, shade had become one of the most sought-after services on site.

The record-breaking heatwave that has swept across Europe this summer has made life in the already squalid conditions of the Grande-Synthe camp unbearable and in many cases unsafe for people on the move. Many of my colleagues raised the desperate conditions of winter as a point of comparison – the ankle-deep mud, constant damp and dangerous bouts of cold – but as the climate crisis takes hold in Europe, I think we should be equally concerned about extreme weather conditions in refugee camps during the summer.

Extreme heat has exacerbated the abuses against people seeking refuge in the UK by the French and British states. A successful case against the French Government brought by NGOs operating in the Dunkirk area in December 2025 means that people living in the camp now have access to mains connected water points. However, in the heat they may have to walk miles to access this water due to the dispersed nature of the camp, exacerbated by frequent police evictions of the areas close to the distribution site and marketplace where water points are located. The flimsy and poorly ventilated tents used by people in the camp, again because of frequent evictions in which tents are damaged or destroyed, leave people at risk of heatstroke and dehydration.  Additionally, the heat causes food to spoil very quickly in tents, leaving people seeking refuge ever more reliant on NGOs in order to survive.

Whilst the UK funnels hundreds millions of pounds towards violent deterrence efforts under this year’s UK-France Treaty, which HfRN among other organisations has shown to be ineffective, vulnerable people seeking asylum in the UK are being left stranded on a treacherous border to suffer a heat event which has been estimated to have caused over 35,000 deaths across Europe. Moreover, the summer months attract some of the most vulnerable – children, families and disabled people – bargaining on a safe crossing in favourable conditions.

There were a high proportion of children in the camp, and this was commented on frequently by NGO staff, who also pointed out to volunteers several young men who were unaccompanied children, despite their efforts to appear older. There was one boy in particular who refused to be identified as a child by NGO workers, explaining that he had chosen to make this journey on his own, and that he was not interested in specialised services for unaccompanied children because he didn’t need them. He frequently expressed his dream of coming to the UK, and I was touched by the strength of his determination, though at the same time it struck me that the hostility directed towards refugees in France – the abundance of state violence and stunning lack of basic services – was leading the most vulnerable people to refuse help from NGOs too. 

On one day in camp there were no medics available, so coordinators from other organisations were forced to manage medical issues alongside their other services. This led to an ambulance being called for a man with a serious wound, though when it arrived, several police officers emerged and stood guard around it, intimidating and mocking people who approached them asking for help with other medical issues. Even bearing witness to this event was incredibly distressing, yet situations like this are not uncommon, and for many people living in the Grande-Synthe camp, distress, abuse and neglect have become the norm when seeking assistance, even in a medical emergency. Based on several accounts from people on the move, this only strengthens the determination of those living in the camp to make it to the UK.

The reality of state violence, including the lack of protection from the heat, is what the NGOs in Grande-Synthe are working against, and many of them successfully. I found being around so many hard-working and resourceful NGO workers inspiring, and it was gratifying to provide some solutions to people’s problems in the camp. During the heatwave, the organisation I was working with set up extra gazebos for shade and a water mister to help people keep cool, whilst elsewhere organisations were providing large water jugs and hats. All of these measures had a positive impact and were well received in the camp, though it felt like we were only scratching the surface.

On one occasion a group of volunteers were tasked with resolving a drainage issue by the showers, and in another instance a coordinator had to fix a broken tap at one of the water points, which the state is supposed to maintain. Though I was impressed with the resourcefulness of the team around me, it felt as if we were patching holes in a broken sail; literally mopping up after the state rather than putting energy into the organisation’s own essential (and more consistent) services. These patching efforts were providing people in the camp with relief and access to essential resources, so it is always worth mending the sail. However, the possibility of sinking ships is not merely allegorical for people seeking asylum in the UK, and it must be the state, rather than NGOs, which confronts the root causes of the misery there and in the waters beyond. Namely, the smuggling gangs.

Witnessing the suffering in Grande-Synthe in the knowledge that the next step for people living in the camp was to make a dangerous journey at the hands of violent smuggling gangs, was the hardest part of working in the camp. Though it is hard to qualify the effects of the weather on the frequency and success of crossing attempts, the statistics show that small boat arrivals in the UK are down 44% compared to last year. Though the UK government is eager to take credit for this reduction, it seemed to me that the extreme heat, bringing high pressure and high winds with it, was contributing to the low number of crossings for this time of year, and leading to a widespread sense of exasperation in the camp.

For days at a time familiar faces would disappear from the camp, only to return later with water damaged or lost phones, crucial for receiving information and resources from NGOs as well as for accessing support and remaining in contact with family members. In some instances, people returned with serious crush injuries obtained during crossing attempts. I was astounded when I learned how people attempting to board the boats were being treated by the French police, whilst smuggling gangs overcrowd and launch the vessels in increasingly unsafe circumstances. For example, there have been instances in which tear gas has been used on people in the water by French police, as gangs force asylum seekers to board the boats offshore to avoid interception on the beaches. This is funded by the British taxpayer under the aforementioned UK-France Treaty. It seems to me that the upscaling of state violence only leads to the upscaling of dangerous and exploitative tactics by the gangs, whilst the lives of people seeking safety in the UK fall through the centre of this vicious cycle, exposed to brutality from both sides. This is a clear case for the establishment of accessible safe routes, which would circumvent the vicious cycle all together.

Since leaving Grande-Synthe, one thought remains at the front of my mind: Borders kill, and they don’t have to. We can break the vicious cycle. This is where the work of organisations including HfRN comes in; to expose the injustice of the current situation, campaign for solutions, and exert pressure on the British Government, whilst offering support to vulnerable people seeking asylum within our deeply flawed and insufficient system. In the meantime, the work of NGOs in Grande-Synthe, Calais and the surrounding area remain crucial for the daily survival of those seeking safety across the Channel, particularly in extreme weather, which is set to become normality as Europe is forced to contend with the ensuing climate crisis. 

In working towards breaking the cycle of violence perpetrated by the British and French states on one side, and the smuggling gangs on the other, we must consider the effects of extreme heat if we are to build a lawful and humane system for those seeking safety in the UK.