Rudd tells Commons that all children with family in the UK should be here by next week
UNICEF UK yesterday said it welcomed Home Secretary Amber Rudd's new commitment to refugee children in the 'Jungle' migrant camp in Calais ahead of the camp's demolition by French authorities.
Image credit: WikipediaRudd announced in the Commons that all children in the camp with family in the UK should be here by next week.
"The Home Secretary has listened to the public's calls for these children to be brought to safety. News of the demolition has undoubtedly scared the children in Calais, especially those alone. It is now more important than ever for the government to deliver on these promises," UNICEF UK's Deputy Executive Director said.
According to BBC News, the names of eligible unaccompanied children living in the Jungle camp will be given to the UK government this week, and Rudd said action could then be taken within "a matter of days - a week at the most."
The Guardian reported that Rudd told MPs that the French authorities had agreed to verify by the end of this week a list of 387 child refugees, with official priority being given to safeguarding children aged under 12.
"I emphasised to Monsieur Cazeneuve that we should transfer as many minors as possible from the camp eligible under the Dublin regulation before clearance commences, with the remainder coming over within the next few days of operation," Rudd was quoted as telling the Commons.
On Sunday, the British Red Cross released a report, No Place for Children, which found that unaccompanied refugee children with family in the UK are being left to fend for themselves in the Jungle camp as a result of bureaucracy.
The British Red Cross found that of the estimated 1,000 unaccompanied children who are currently living in the 'Jungle', 178 have been identified as having family ties to the UK. Yet the report found failures at almost every point in the process of reuniting the children with their families, with problems ranging from basic administrative errors causing severe delays to a shortage of staff required to facilitate transfers.
According to the British Red Cross, the delays are causing children to become disillusioned, frustrated and desperate, with a least three children who had a legal right to join family in the UK dying as they tried to make their own way here.
Speaking before Rudd's announcement today, Alex Fraser, the British Red Cross director of refugee support, said: "We welcome recent commitments from Home Office officials to work with their French counterparts to improve the system, and to increase the scale and speed of transfers of unaccompanied children. But more can and must be done, on both sides of the channel, to ensure children do not spend another cold winter living in uncertainty – unsafe, afraid and alone."
The Guardian had earlier reported on Saturday that the charity Help Refugees was mounting a legal challenge against the Home Office for failing to meet its commitment to unaccompanied child refugees. The charity argues that the Home Secretary was misconstruing or misapplying the 2016 Immigration Act, under which the government is obliged to take some children into the UK.
The co-founder of Help Refugees told the Guardian: "We absolutely think that the camp shouldn't be there and no human being should live in those conditions, but we need to make sure that the French keep their word so that proper alternative accommodation is provided and that the eviction is carried out as humanely as possible."