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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/04/violence-lone-child-refugees-uk-government-indifference
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| Violence against lone child refugees is escalating – because we ignore it | Violence against lone child refugees is escalating – because we ignore it |
| (21 days later) | |
| Experiencing violence is now a fact of life for child refugees. Hundreds of children have arrived at the camps in Calais and Dunkirk with no parents or family members to protect them. The violence comes from the police, and people outside the camps. There is a name for the latter group who travel to Calais to attack migrants at night – it’s called “citizen violence”. Those most affected by police violence are frightened of speaking out against officers who should be their protectors from the many threats, including the prowling smugglers and traffickers behind “camp violence”. | Experiencing violence is now a fact of life for child refugees. Hundreds of children have arrived at the camps in Calais and Dunkirk with no parents or family members to protect them. The violence comes from the police, and people outside the camps. There is a name for the latter group who travel to Calais to attack migrants at night – it’s called “citizen violence”. Those most affected by police violence are frightened of speaking out against officers who should be their protectors from the many threats, including the prowling smugglers and traffickers behind “camp violence”. |
| Earlier this year, the bar human rights committee of England and Wales sent a small team of barristers and researchers to the camps at Calais and Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk. Sadly, their report highlights a failure to meet minimum international law standards. It calls on Theresa May and François Hollande to set up an independent investigation into police abuse and fund a permanent legal advice centre. | Earlier this year, the bar human rights committee of England and Wales sent a small team of barristers and researchers to the camps at Calais and Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk. Sadly, their report highlights a failure to meet minimum international law standards. It calls on Theresa May and François Hollande to set up an independent investigation into police abuse and fund a permanent legal advice centre. |
| Speaking to the under-equipped and overworked staff of the Calais camp’s legal advice centre, we heard about a 16-year-old Iranian boy taken to a field outside the town and forced to kneel in a line with others, before the police beat him repeatedly with truncheons; an Eritrean man who, after complying with a police request to get down from a lorry, was violently attacked and had teargas sprayed in his face; and teargas being used at camp entrances to prevent refugees from leaving, being detonated inside vans or shot at people’s faces from close range, and of hundreds of empty teargas canisters being dumped in a warehouse. Teargas is used more often in the evenings and at weekends. | Speaking to the under-equipped and overworked staff of the Calais camp’s legal advice centre, we heard about a 16-year-old Iranian boy taken to a field outside the town and forced to kneel in a line with others, before the police beat him repeatedly with truncheons; an Eritrean man who, after complying with a police request to get down from a lorry, was violently attacked and had teargas sprayed in his face; and teargas being used at camp entrances to prevent refugees from leaving, being detonated inside vans or shot at people’s faces from close range, and of hundreds of empty teargas canisters being dumped in a warehouse. Teargas is used more often in the evenings and at weekends. |
| We also collated numerous disturbing accounts from victims of groups of men, potentially from far-right and neo-Nazi groups, attacking refugees in and around Calais with apparent impunity. | We also collated numerous disturbing accounts from victims of groups of men, potentially from far-right and neo-Nazi groups, attacking refugees in and around Calais with apparent impunity. |
| According to a Refugee Rights Data Project report in March, 76% of camp residents (and 82% of women) have experienced violence from the police, while 70% have been exposed to teargas. Of the 700 children in the Calais camp, a staggering 78% are on their own. | According to a Refugee Rights Data Project report in March, 76% of camp residents (and 82% of women) have experienced violence from the police, while 70% have been exposed to teargas. Of the 700 children in the Calais camp, a staggering 78% are on their own. |
| Over 61% of children admit that they have “never felt safe” there. This is a common emotion found in places where the state protectors form part of the machinery of abuse, safe in the knowledge that few abuses will be reported and even fewer pursued. | Over 61% of children admit that they have “never felt safe” there. This is a common emotion found in places where the state protectors form part of the machinery of abuse, safe in the knowledge that few abuses will be reported and even fewer pursued. |
| An agreement between France and the UK emphasises the commitment of the UK and French governments to provide “protected accommodation” to assist the removal of vulnerable people to a place of safety where they can claim asylum. While outrage over the conditions of these refugee camps has sporadically flared up, the responsibility of the two governments has floated away. | An agreement between France and the UK emphasises the commitment of the UK and French governments to provide “protected accommodation” to assist the removal of vulnerable people to a place of safety where they can claim asylum. While outrage over the conditions of these refugee camps has sporadically flared up, the responsibility of the two governments has floated away. |
| Goups of men, potentially from far-right and neo-Nazi groups, attack refugees around Calais with apparent impunity | Goups of men, potentially from far-right and neo-Nazi groups, attack refugees around Calais with apparent impunity |
| The camps themselves are a legal aberration. They are not official refugee camps administered by the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, and so standard protections of accountability and sanitation are not subject to international norms. Government policy has instead focused on avoiding the creation of permanent camps, and discouraging people from living there, rather than ensuring that the fundamental rights of those with nowhere else to go are protected. | The camps themselves are a legal aberration. They are not official refugee camps administered by the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, and so standard protections of accountability and sanitation are not subject to international norms. Government policy has instead focused on avoiding the creation of permanent camps, and discouraging people from living there, rather than ensuring that the fundamental rights of those with nowhere else to go are protected. |
| There are basic standards set out in both French domestic and international law, which apply no less to refugees than to anyone else. The police must use force only when it’s necessary and proportionate. The state must ensure that the most vulnerable, including children, are properly protected. Teargas must not be used excessively, unnecessarily or in confined spaces. Where abuses by the police are suspected, there must be an independent system to hold people to account. | There are basic standards set out in both French domestic and international law, which apply no less to refugees than to anyone else. The police must use force only when it’s necessary and proportionate. The state must ensure that the most vulnerable, including children, are properly protected. Teargas must not be used excessively, unnecessarily or in confined spaces. Where abuses by the police are suspected, there must be an independent system to hold people to account. |
| Many residents are terrified of complaining about the police, for fear that they will jeopardise their own asylum claims or invite further violence. Four days before we arrived, the legal advice centre’s offices had been burned down, in an apparent act of arson. The four staff members, supported only by online crowdfunding, were working from a nearby apartment. | Many residents are terrified of complaining about the police, for fear that they will jeopardise their own asylum claims or invite further violence. Four days before we arrived, the legal advice centre’s offices had been burned down, in an apparent act of arson. The four staff members, supported only by online crowdfunding, were working from a nearby apartment. |
| The lack of enforcement of the rights of the children in the camps is a useful human rights barometer. While we set up inquiries t o look into past atrocities and abuses and produce weighty reports on past human rights violations, we are in the middle of our own historic wrong. | The lack of enforcement of the rights of the children in the camps is a useful human rights barometer. While we set up inquiries t o look into past atrocities and abuses and produce weighty reports on past human rights violations, we are in the middle of our own historic wrong. |
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