It could be the beginning of the end for the Calais Jungle

Last week, French authorities announced plans to bulldoze the southern part of the Calais refugee camp commonly known as The Jungle, and gave the estimated 800-1,000 people living there seven days to evacuate the area.

The government has already destroyed part of the camp that was adjacent to the motorway leading to the Eurotunnel which links Britain and France.

This time though, eight charities have launched legal challenges against the proposed further bulldozing of the camp.

According to a census conducted by charities working in Calais, the number of people living in the part of the camp set to be destroyed is around 3,500, higher than government estimates. Those challenging the ruling believe this gives them a basis for their claim to stop the evictions.

A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, at the end of which the future of the Jungle will be decided, according to Clare Moseley, head of the Care4Calais charity.

Moseley told Business Insider that Tuesday's decision will be an "all or nothing" moment for the Jungle.

Moseley explained how local authorities have told charity organisations operating in the area that if the destruction of the southern part of the camp is approved, the northern part of the camp is also likely to be destroyed.

The main basis for charities challenging the decision to bulldoze the camp is that the government misjudged the number of people living in the eviction zone, meaning they would not be able to provide adequate accommodation for them, which is one of the requirements of any eviction.

The government plans to house people in old shipping containers that have been repurposed into emergency shelters in Calais, as well as relocating camp residents to refugee centres around France.

"I've been told that places can be made available very quickly, but I don't know if that's true," Moseley said, adding that it was very hard to get any information about the living conditions in those centres, thus making it difficult to prove that the accommodation was adequate or not.

Another point in their claim is that the eviction would essentially leave scores of unaccompanied minors homeless. A census conducted on Monday by the charities Help Refugees and L'Auberge Des Migrants found that 440 children are living in the southern part of the camp, 291 of which are unaccompanied.

The hearing will take place on Tuesday afternoon, and if the judge rules against the charities, over 3,500 people will need to be evacuated in a very short period of time.

Moseley said that some people had already started to move, in case the verdict did not come out in their favour. She estimates that about 200 people have left, with some of them travelling to respite centres around the country.

'It's not going to achieve anything'

"They've done this before, and it never worked, they [the refugees] always come back, because they have a good reason for being here," Moseley said . "We've seen it before, they will just come back, it [the eviction] is not going to achieve anything.

"It's really frustrating, because the only thing it is going to do is send us back six months, and the living conditions are going to be so much worse again. It's going to make us go back to when we did not have any infrastructures."

According to Moseley the government just wants to get people away from Calais because of the extremely tense political situation there.

But the destruction of part of the camp will prove hugely disruptive to camp residents.

The part of the Jungle that is supposed to be demolished houses many cafes and restaurants and most of the communal areas that were built by refugees and volunteers to make life in the camp bearable.

The youth centre, which offers support to many unaccompanied young boys, numerous places of worship, the legal centre, the vaccination centre, three schools and the camp's library, Jungle Books, as well as a communal kitchen that distributes 2,000 meals a day, are all set to be demolished.