The charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) will on Monday open a refugee camp in northern France without the blessing of the French government. The camp in Grande Synthe is meant to take in migrants who are currently occupying a shanty near the town that is second in size to the "Jungle", the notorious makeshift camp in Calais, about half an hour's drive to the west, which is being demolished.
MSF said it is the first camp conforming to international norms to open in France since the start of the migrant crisis early last year.
The charity will run the camp jointly with the Grande Synthe town hall, but without the blessing of Paris.
Officially, around 1,000 migrants live in the shantytown, including 60 women and 74 children, with the transfer to the new camp expected to take three days.
MSF's decision to build a proper camp was prompted early last month when heavy winds damaged two-thirds of the some 200 tents at Grande-Synthe.
The charity has so far built a little over 200 cabins of 275 planned "in the short term" to house at least 1,500 people, said the co-ordinator, Angelique Muller.
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