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Calais: France bows to pressure on abandoned refugee children Calais: France says Britain must take in more than 1,000 refugee children
(about 5 hours later)
French authorities have bowed to international pressure over the treatment of more than 100 child refugees left stranded in the dismantled Calais camp, agreeing to lay on buses for those still in the area and transfer them to reception centres around the country. French officials have demanded that Britain give homes to more than 1,000 refugee children who remain in shipping containers on the site of the now-cleared Calais camp, amid renewed tense diplomatic wrangling over the fate of the unaccompanied minors.
As bulldozers began destroying the remains of the camp, there was concern about the future of nearly 1,500 children given short-term accommodation in a fenced-off section of the camp. Both the president of the regional council and the head of France’s official refugee agency, Ofpra, said on Friday night that Britain should accept all of them.
Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France regional council, pointed out that only 300 minors had been taken to the UK, and added: “We now need the British government to implement and accelerate the juvenile transfer process to the UK ... It is a question of humanity and dignity.”
The head of France’s Ofpra refugee agency, Pascal Brice, said that since France had given homes to around 4,400 adults, it was only fair that Britain took its share. “We’ve done Britain’s work in tending to the adults,” he told Reuters. “The least they can do is take care of the isolated minors who are now at the CAP [temporary lodgings] and who have an interest in going to Britain.”
The renewed pressure on the UK to take more Calais refugees came 24 hours after the French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, told his British counterpart, Amber Rudd, that Britain should “quickly execute its responsibilities to take in these minors, who hope to come to the United Kingdom. This is the best way to give them the protection they are due.” The Home Office has said it expects to give sanctuary to a few hundred more children once their asylum claims have been investigated, but will not make any firm commitments on numbers until the cases have been processed.
With the final clearance of the Calais camp complete, one refugee charity in Paris reported a sharp rise in the number of asylum seekers sleeping rough, indicating that at least some of the refugee population may simply have been shifted elsewhere.
Earlier, French authorities bowed to international pressure over the treatment of more than 100 child refugees left stranded without any shelter in the dismantled Calais camp, agreeing to lay on buses for those still in the area and transfer them to reception centres around the country.
As groups of minors faced the threat of a third night sleeping rough in the largely destroyed camp, French officials arrived with three coaches on the same street in which the press and teenagers were kettled on Thursday.As groups of minors faced the threat of a third night sleeping rough in the largely destroyed camp, French officials arrived with three coaches on the same street in which the press and teenagers were kettled on Thursday.
Shaista Ahmad Sheehan, the Liberal Democrat peer who has been campaigning for the rights of teenagers at the camp for more than a year, hailed the development as “fantastic news”. Concerns remained, however, after the police refused to let any independent observer past a police line to confirm that none of the teenagers were being taken to a detention centre.Shaista Ahmad Sheehan, the Liberal Democrat peer who has been campaigning for the rights of teenagers at the camp for more than a year, hailed the development as “fantastic news”. Concerns remained, however, after the police refused to let any independent observer past a police line to confirm that none of the teenagers were being taken to a detention centre.
The children, aged between 11 and 18, and up to 30 adult migrants filed through the police line silently to take their places on the bus.The children, aged between 11 and 18, and up to 30 adult migrants filed through the police line silently to take their places on the bus.
Lady Sheehan, who had written to the home secretary, Amber Rudd, on Friday morning calling on her to reach an urgent resolution with the French, appealed to the sous-préfet of the Pas-de-Calais, who stood on the police line. He refused to let her in to observe the group’s removal.Lady Sheehan, who had written to the home secretary, Amber Rudd, on Friday morning calling on her to reach an urgent resolution with the French, appealed to the sous-préfet of the Pas-de-Calais, who stood on the police line. He refused to let her in to observe the group’s removal.
“He told me they are under French protection now and they will protect their human rights,” she said. She added that there were fears some migrants could be “taken to a detention centre and deported”.“He told me they are under French protection now and they will protect their human rights,” she said. She added that there were fears some migrants could be “taken to a detention centre and deported”.
“We cannot be sure about any of their assurances. We have to judge by the evidence we have seen and what we have seen is shambolic,” Sheehan said.“We cannot be sure about any of their assurances. We have to judge by the evidence we have seen and what we have seen is shambolic,” Sheehan said.
The development comes after France blamed Britain for failing to take responsibility for the group of refugees who remained sleeping in makeshift conditions in the debris of the camp. But there remain concerns that there are still refugee children as young as 12 stranded in the ruins of the camp in Calais, after it emerged that some who were due to come to England in the last couple of days never made it on to the buses organised by the Home Office to bring them to the UK. The Red Cross has warned that some of these children are in danger of disappearing before they can be brought to safety.
The French rebuke from the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, came as a diplomatic standoff between the two nations unfolded over who was responsible for the last unaccompanied refugee children. The children had been interviewed and registered and approved to travel to the UK under the terms of the Dubs amendment legislation. Alex Fraser, director of refugee support at the British Red Cross, said:
Cazeneuve expressed surprise late on Thursday at the implicit criticism from his British counterpart, Rudd, in a statement that appeared to reprimand the French for failing to safeguard and care for the remaining children. “Many of the children who remain in Calais have a legal right to come to the UK, but there is now a real risk some will disappear, when they should have been brought to safety. The UK government should be urging the French government in the strongest terms to ensure that no child is left without shelter.”
The French government said Cazeneuve and his ministerial colleagues had “learned with surprise the declarations of Ms Amber Rudd”. Lawyers representing some of the children who are eligible to travel to the UK have expressed concern about their inability to contact children currently in the camp area and have warned that a few of these children have either left the remains of the camp to try their luck elsewhere in France or have been dispersed by the French authorities even though their names are on a list to come to England.
The official statement added: “The French ministers hope … the United Kingdom will quickly execute its responsibilities to take in these minors who hope to come to the United Kingdom. This is the best way to give them the protection they are due.” The Refugee Youth Service said as many as 15 minors were refusing to get into the buses on Friday because they did not know where the buses were going.
The dispute between the two governments followed months of reluctance on both sides to take responsibility for the thousands of vulnerable asylum seekers who had gathered in Calais. France has rehoused nearly 6,000 people, including more than 1,000 minors who have been given shelter in shipping containers in the Calais camp. Michael McHugh, a volunteer, raised the issue of what the authorities were going to do with refugees who would inevitably show up in the coming days, weeks and months. “Everyone likes a nice narrative, a beginning and a middle and an end, but this story is not over.”
The UK has taken between 240 and 300 children, and is expected to take a few hundred more. The charity said an Eritrean brother and sister of 15 and 16 had arrived on Thursday night and were separated because there was room for the girl in a female-only secure camp, but not for the boy.
On Friday morning, more than 100 children were still stranded in the smouldering camp waiting for French police and authorities to decide their fate. Dejected and in despair, they huddled in makeshift shelters in a school area on the perimeter of the camp with 15 British volunteers who spent the night guarding them from potential fire or people traffickers. The abandoned school is an unheated structure, made from chipboard and tarpaulin by volunteers.
Alice Sturrock, 22, from Edinburgh said: “It was a grim night. It was cold. Some of the minors had to sleep outside on the ground.
“The CRS [French riot police] came in the middle of the night and were mildly threatening. They shone their torches around the children and then left. Then this morning the police chief showed up and asked us for a count of people and a count of minors.”
It was the second night that children had been forced to sleep rough after French authorities lured them out of the camp with the promise of transport to a reception centre where they were to be assessed for potential refuge in the UK, either through the Dublin agreement or the Dubs amendment to immigration laws.
However, in an extraordinary day they were instead kettled by heavily armed police and left to stand in the cold for six hours before they were abandoned and told they could go back into the camp, where fires were still burning.
Sheehan, who was there to witness the operation, said the British and French authorities were flouting children’s human rights: “Children have rights – family, shelter and protection – under the convention on the rights of the child”, a UN treaty declaring that all children are “entitled to special care and assistance”.
Volunteers counted 113 young people who self-declared as 17 or under in the school on Friday morning, including 46 aged 17, 33 aged 16, 12 aged 15 and five aged 13.
Elsewhere in Calais, police were manning the train station, where they picked up three or four migrants just after dawn.
On Thursday night they were also stopping others who had left the camp. Charities have criticised the French for closing down their migrant registration programme after three days despite evidence that they had not given enough time to process hundreds of adults and minors in the camp.
Another volunteer with Care4Calais, who has been a prominent figure in the shepherding of children to various locations at the request of the French, said: “I don’t think they ever intended to do anything yesterday for the children. It is just disgusting what they did.”
The Refugee Youth Service (RYS) said as many as 15 minors were refusing to get into the buses on Friday because they did not know where the buses were going.
Michael McHugh, a volunteer, said: “What is really baffling is that the NGOs and volunteers have been brushed off so many times in the past few years, and yet the state was quite willing to pass responsibility of age verification to us. This is a safeguarding concern and it should not be us taking responsibility and risking having a child left behind because we didn’t guess the age correctly.”
He also raised the issue of what the authorities were going to do with refugees who would inevitably show up in the coming days, weeks and months. “Everyone likes a nice narrative, a beginning and a middle and an end, but this story is not over.”
The charity said an Eritrean brother and sister of 15 and 16 had showed up on Thursday night and were separated because there was room for the girl in a female-only secure camp, but not for the boy.
“I had to walk this girl up this morning, holding her hand, to the bus. She was terrified. It was the only way to reunite them,” said Dannie Fisher of the RYS.“I had to walk this girl up this morning, holding her hand, to the bus. She was terrified. It was the only way to reunite them,” said Dannie Fisher of the RYS.
McHugh added: “This is far from over. There are still 1,500 children in the container camp, some of them really terrified.McHugh added: “This is far from over. There are still 1,500 children in the container camp, some of them really terrified.
“There are some children who saw what was going on and were so scared they went to Paris, where presumably they will be sleeping rough. Everything about this operation has put children in danger.”“There are some children who saw what was going on and were so scared they went to Paris, where presumably they will be sleeping rough. Everything about this operation has put children in danger.”