Calais Jungle charity leader insists there is a 'blanket ban' on sexual relationships with refugees

Despite news of happy marriage between former volunteer and refugee Ms Mosely says she 'strongly discourages' such romances in the Jungle

The founder of Care4Calais says any sexual relationship between a volunteer and a refugee is strongly discouraged ue to 'emotional vulnerability' of refugees (Getty)

A charity leader in the Calais 'Jungle' has said it is important to operate a "blanket ban" on volunteer-refugee relationships in the camp, despite news that a former volunteer and refugee who met there are getting married.

Clare Mosely, founder of Care4Calais, told The Independent that although it is possible for genuine romances to develop between volunteers and residents of the camp, any such relationships must be strongly discouraged because of the damaging emotional impact it could have on the refugee.

Ms Mosely was speaking after it emerged a British woman is to marry a Syrian refugee she met while volunteering in the camp.

Sarah Gayton, a management consultant, is to wed Hamoude Khalil, a law student from Aleppo, after the pair struck up a romance in the camp last year while working together in a warehouse run by Auberge des Migrants, one of the largest charities operating in Calais.

The pair are now both living in the UK after Mr Khalil was reportedly given leave to remain for five years after illegally entering the country in the back of a lorry, despite promising Miss Gayton he wouldn't.

Miss Gayton spoke out about the relationship in the Sunday Times after it emerged there had been issues with sexual relationships forming in the camp, with some volunteers accused of sexually exploiting refugees, as revealed by The Independent.

She told the paper there had been no objections raised by any of the charities in Calais over her relationship with Mr Khalil, and claimed those who saw them together “knew it was for real”.

She said: “From my point of view, we are both consenting adults and why shouldn’t we be in a relationship? There was never anything said. Everybody saw us together happy, and there was not a concern about that at all.”

But Ms Mosely, who used to work with Miss Gayton at Auberge before she set up her own charity, has since told The Independent that although she believed the relationship was "genuine", no such romances should be allowed to develop within the camp because it risks having a damaging impact due to the "emotional vulnerability" of refugees.

She said: “I guess in this case it’s worked out, but the problem is that you can’t know that. The refugees are emotionally vulnerable. That’s the problem.

"That relationship started early on. The issues over the emotional well-being of refugees and their vulnerability have only been raised recently. When we first got here we didn’t have time to think about anything. We were in emergency mode and were just throwing food and blankets at people for the first few months.

"But as time has gone on the emotional and social problems that develop from living in the camp have become more of a factor. In our briefings we now have a section called 'No Promises', which says you shouldn’t promise anything to a refugee, not just in terms of relationships, but anything.

"So we have a blanket ban on relationships with refugees, There’s no other way around it."

Ms Mosely added that despite the strict rules care4Calais has in place, any regulation was difficult to manage in the camp due to the quick turnaround of volunteers. She said: “It's hard to keep things consistent when you’ve got a large number of volunteers who are changing every day.

“We have 20 to 60 people everyday, up to 20 of whom are new to the camp, especially at the weekends when you might have people who come for just one day.”

Ms Mosely has previously spoken to The Independent about the issue of sexual exploitation by volunteers against refugees in Calais, giving the example of a male volunteer was recently caught behaving inappropriately with female refugees, and said she was "pleased" the problems had been brought to light in our article.

A spokesperson for Auberge des Migrants also said it was a problem, citing a case where a British woman developed a "bad reputation" in the camp by sleeping with multiple refugees and stating the charity had "strict rules to prevent this sort of thing from happening".

Auberge have not responded to a request for comment on Miss Gayton's relationship to Mr Khalil.

Both charities said that while they brief their volunteers about the ban on sexual relationships with refugees, it is impossible to control the conduct of the people who come to volunteer independently - which applies for around 20 per cent of volunteers in the camp.

The issue was initially raised after Brendan Woodhouse, a male volunteer, started a discussion on a Facebook group for Jungle workers called Calais People to People Solidarity, in a post that was seen by The Independent before it was later deleted by the group's admin.

Mr Woodhouse raised the issue of “sexual exploitation and its damaging and direct correlation to the provision of aid in the Jungle". He was subsequently subjected to a barrage of abuse from fellow volunteers accusing him of sexism and misogyny, but many agreed with him that exploitative volunteer-refugee relationships were a serious issue in the camp that should not be “covered up”.

Mr Wooodhouse has since told The Independent a taskforce has been set up to tackle the problem, but added that it would be a complex process because there are "a lot of complicated issues to deal with".