A/HRC/43/43/Add.2 refused to provide a certificate of residency to homeless persons or residents of informal settlements, thus excluding them from access to social support.50 B. Refugees and migrants 67. The Special Rapporteur is deeply concerned about the housing and living conditions of refugees and migrants in the Hauts-de-France region near Calais, and in other informal encampments such as in Porte de la Chapelle in Paris. She is not alone. Similar concerns have been repeatedly raised by the Defender of Rights, the National Consultative Commission for Human Rights, other special rapporteurs of the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.51 The Special Rapporteur notes the particular challenges that authorities face in responding to migrants who are in the region with the aim of securing passage to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Nonetheless, she wishes to underline that the right to adequate housing and protection against forced evictions must be extended to all, including migrants. 68. The Government has employed several tactics that have led to a vicious cycle of forced evictions, increased homelessness and short-term encampments in places such as Calais and Porte de la Chapelle. Dismantling the large informal settlement near Calais in October 2016 affected up to 8,000 migrants, who were forced to disperse into smaller encampments where they were subject to eviction (sometimes every 48 hours). While the Government is utilizing these tactics to deter the growth of informal settlements, they are making already completely unacceptable living conditions even worse. Urgent State action is required to bring the situation into conformity with international human rights norms. 69. The Government acknowledged that the housing of refugees and asylum seekers remained a priority in 2019 and the Special Rapporteur commends France for having doubled the number of places of accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees, from 50,548 in 2014 to 107,183 in 2019.52 Despite this step forward, approximately 19,000 refugees remain in emergency shelters.53 Currently, only half of all asylum seekers who request shelter will receive it.54 An increasing number of asylum seekers are forced to live in hiding owing to their immigration status, and often endure the most deplorable conditions without the hope of access to housing or other social support. 70. The Special Rapporteur learned that integrated reception and guidance centres (“SIAO”), responsible for managing emergency accommodation, have been instructed to share information with the French Office for Immigration and Integration. 55 This instruction has the potential to drive migrants and refugees fearing deportation further into hiding. Moreover, it does not comply with international guidelines that require effective and binding data firewalls between social services on the one hand and immigration enforcement authorities on the other (A/HRC/37/34/Add.1, principle 13, guideline 4). 56 71. On 7 November 2019, after the Special Rapporteur’s visit, migrants were forcibly evicted from an encampment in Porte de la Chapelle. Approximately 1,600 migrants were transported in buses to various gymnasiums and emergency accommodation centres, in most 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 National Consultative Commission for Human Rights, “Avis relatif au suivi des recommandations du Comité des Nations unies sur les droits économiques, sociaux et culturels adressées à la France”, 6 July 2017. See Defender of Rights, Exilés et droits fondamentaux, trois ans après le rapport Calais (Paris, 2018); and Human Rights Watch, “‘Like living in hell’: police abuses against child and adult migrants in Calais”, 26 July 2017. Statistics provided to the Special Rapporteur by the Ministry of the Interior. Instruction No. INTV1904604J, dated 4 March 2019, of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry for Territorial Cohesion. National Consultative Commission for Human Rights, “Avis sur l’’instruction ministérielle relative à la coopération entre les SIAO et l’’Office français de l’immigration et l’intégration”, 24 September 2019, p. 6. Interministerial instruction No. DGCS/SD1A/DGEF/2019/143, dated 4 July 2019. See also Defender of Rights, decision No. 2019-259, and National Consultative Commission for Human Rights, “Avis sur l’instruction ministérielle relative à la coopération entre les SIAO et l’Office français de l’immigration et l’intégration”. 13