Yvette Cooper calls on Government to speed up process of sanctuary for child refugees stranded in Calais

Labour's Yvette Cooper has written to Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, to call on the Government to speed up the process of sanctuary for child refugees stranded in camps in the French port of Calais, the Guardian reported on Sunday.

According to the Guardian, Cooper said Home Office delays have left hundreds of child refugees in limbo in Calais. The children have the legal right to be reunited with their family members in the UK

Charities say that more than 200 such child refugees are still waiting in the camps, of which only 35 are understood to have cases in progress.

"At the current rate of progress it would take over a year to reunite every child with their family. Even when Britain has agreed to the 'take charge' request and agreed they can join their family here, there are disgraceful further bureaucratic delays as the children and teenagers are left to wait at risk in the Calais camp for many more weeks before they are finally transferred", Cooper's letter to Rudd was quoted as saying.

It continued: "Right now the government is failing children both under the Dublin agreement and the Dubs commitment. Neither the British nor the French government have put in place a proper process to deal with the Dublin cases in Calais and instead seem to be deliberately adding delays to the work done by charities."

In response, a Home Office spokesperson told the Guardian that more than 30 children had been accepted for transfer to the UK under the amendment brought about by Labour peer Alf Dubs, with the majority of those already being in the UK.

"This is in addition to supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who arrive from Europe. Last year there were over 3,000 claims for asylum in the UK by unaccompanied children," the spokesman added.

Earlier this month, the Guardian published an in-depth article on child refugees in Calais. Several children were interviewed, aged nine to 12, who are all potentially eligible to be helped to safety in the UK under the Dubs amendment.

The article stated: "Charities hoped that the UK would swiftly begin to accommodate large numbers of the estimated 88,000 unaccompanied child refugees in Europe, but by the start of this week fewer than 20 had arrived under the scheme. Lord Dubs has condemned the "shocking" lack of urgency in the government's response that was forcing very young children to continue living in "intolerable conditions"."

Josie Naughton, from the UK charity Help Refugees, told the Guardian: "Tonight, 608 unaccompanied children in the 'Calais Jungle' will go to sleep yet again in a state of fear, uncertainty and without protection. The youngest is eight years old. The British and French authorities know they are there yet they continue to turn the other way. Three months ago, the Dubs amendment was passed; as it stands this has amounted to nothing. We implore the government to act on its promise and bring these children to safety."