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France urged to provide housing for lone children in Calais

September 27, 2016 at 9:32 pm

Migrants pass by a road sign as they leave the northern area of the camp called the “Jungle” in Calais, France, 25 September 2016. [REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol]

France has been urged to provide housing for the 1,000 lone asylum-seeking children who are living in dire condition in the Calais camp known as “the Jungle”, “as a matter of urgency”.

The children’s commissioners for both England and France urged the government to take action before the camp is demolished following an announcement by French President Francois Hollande.

Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner in England said the closure of the camp “needs to be done in a properly planned way so that children currently there are protected from harm and do not disappear from the radar of the agencies or try to make the dangerous trip across the Channel in the back of a lorry.”

Children make up approximately 10 per cent of the camp’s population, and when parts of the camp were demolished earlier this year 129 children went missing.

“I do feel angry with the French for not protecting the children that are there,” she said. “It is horrific. Children are clearly at immense risk – both if they stay in the camp, at risk from traffickers, and are exposed to immense dangers if they try to get on a train or a lorry.”

Geneviève Avenard, France’s children’s commissioner, said: “If the camp is cleared, the closure must comply with French law. Every child who is currently living there should be provided with appropriate accommodation so closure should not be enforced until the authorities have looked for genuine alternative accommodation.”