France urged to house unattended children in Calais camp

The children’s commissioners for England and France have called on the French government to identify, register and house the 1,000 lone asylum-seeking children who are reportedly living in dire conditions in the Calais camp.

They called for the situation to be treated “as a matter of urgency” before the site is demolished.

Following an announcement by President Francois Hollande that the refugee camp will be taken down and replaced with official centres for asylum-seekers around the country, charities have voiced concern about the safety of the unaccompanied child refugees, who make up about 10% of the camp.

Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, said that while she supported the French government’s decision to close the camp, “this needs to be done in a properly planned way so in order to protected from harm the children currently there.”

She criticised the French government’s failure to provide homes for the unaccompanied children over the past year as the site expanded rapidly. When parts of the camp were demolished earlier this year, 129 children went missing. “We know that papers were destroyed and homes were torn down, support networks ripped up,” Longfield said.

The main French charity working to house unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, France Terre d’asile, said last week that it was turning away between 15-35 children every day because its centre was full.