They fled hardship and war only to find misery and squalor, but migrants who met a gruesome end in northern France hoping to reach England are finally getting a touch of dignity in death.

More than 30 people have perished since June last year in and around the vast, infamous camp known as the "Jungle" in northern French port of Calais, near the Channel Tunnel.

France's first international-standard refugee camp opened in the teeth of official opposition Monday while Calais residents protested over the impact of the migrant crisis.

Three families of Iraqi Kurds were the first to arrive at the new camp in Grande-Synthe near Dunkirk on the northern French coast, an AFP reporter said.

A dozen Iranian refugees with their mouths sewn shut in protest at their eviction from France's "Jungle" migrant camp protested for a third straight day as demolition workers were wrapping up their first week on the job.

The Iranians positioned themselves in front of a line of riot police protecting the workers as they dismantled makeshift shelters in the southern half of the camp.

They have become an influential presence behind the scenes in France's "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais, but the myth surrounding the shadowy No Borders activist group serves many agendas.

As the demolition continued in the southern half of the camp, where thousands of migrants have gathered in the hope of smuggling their way to Britain, the French government has accused the "violent and extremist" No Borders group of spearheading resistance.

A group of Iranian migrants sewed their mouths shut in a disturbing protest at the ongoing demolition of the "Jungle" migrant camp in the French port city of Calais on Thursday.

AFP journalists said at least nine Iranians had stitched their mouths shut in the southern half of the camp, which is being gradually demolished by French authorities.

The stench of burning plastic hung over the "Jungle" migrant camp on Wednesday as dozens of riot police moved in for a third day to demolish the shantytown in northern France.

Charred husks of shacks and smoldering logs marked the spots where half a dozen shelters were burned down overnight in the camp on the outskirts of the port city of Calais.

A French court on Thursday gave the green light to plans to evacuate hundreds of migrants from the notorious "Jungle" camp in the northern French port of Calais.

Activists working in the camp had asked the court to stop the evacuation of the southern half of the "Jungle," with many of the migrants wanting to stay near the entrance to the Channel Tunnel, the gateway to their ultimate goal of Britain.

Belgium on Tuesday said it had temporarily reintroduced border controls with France in order to halt the arrival of migrants from the Calais "Jungle" camp, in a new blow to the EU's passport-free travel area.

Interior minister Jan Jambon said most of the migrants currently in Calais, a port in northern France, eventually wanted to get to Britain and would use Belgium as a transit route.

Migrant protesters were due in a French court Monday after occupying a cross-Channel ferry, as charities warned thousands could be affected by plans to evict half of Calais' "Jungle" refugee camp.

A court in Boulogne-sur-Mer was to deliver a verdict in the case of two activists and six migrants who took part in last month's protest in the northern port city of Calais, urging Britain to allow asylum seekers in.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday lashed out at the "appalling" conditions for children in two migrant camps that have sprung up around the northern French port of Calais.

UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said the agency was deeply worried, especially for children who were living there alone or had become separated from their families.