Evidence provided to Home Affairs Select Committee on Channel crossings

PROVIDING EVIDENCE TO HOME AFFAIRS SELECT COMMITTEE ON CHANNEL CROSSINGS. With our partners Refugee Youth Service, we are currently supporting over 150 unaccompanied children living between Calais and Dunkirk. Giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee in Parliament on Tuesday, we highlighted the vulnerabilities and extreme risks these children face whilst living in desperate conditions. Over 50 of these children have family in the UK, yet have cited the length of time it takes to process their claim as one of the key reasons they continue to attempt dangerous crossings to Britain.The evidence we presented about the conditions at the St Omer centre where many of these children wait painted an awful picture; blood-stained mattresses, blocked showers and inedible food. This lack of faith in state-managed accommodation and legal processes is not new. Almost three years have passed since the Dubs Amendment was agreed, and yet nearly half of the 480 pledged places have been filled. We are currently aware of 33 children across Greece, France and Italy that are awaiting transfer to the UK under Dubs, the majority of which are here in Calais. Childhoods are being lost to bureaucracy. An urgent change in policy is required. Both the French and British governments must fill the remaining places under the Dubs amendment for unaccompanied minors within a specified and imminent timeframe. All children deserve safety.

Posted by Help Refugees on Thursday, January 24, 2019