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viernes, 2 de septiembre de 2016

Calais "Jungle" camp: UK urged to take in 400 refugee children

Children at a school near the migrant campImage copyright Getty Images
Image caption Refugee children at a school near the camp. A list of 387 eligible to be moved to the UK has been drawn up by campaigners

Campaigners say they have identified almost 400 refugee children living in the camp in Calais known as the Jungle who are eligible to come to the UK.


They are urging Home Secretary Amber Rudd to accept the children – many of whom reportedly have family in Britain.


The list is to be handed in at the Home Office, marking the anniversary of the drowning of three-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi one year ago.


The Home Office says it already plans to transfer 150 children this year.


Most vulnerable


Celebrities including Juliet Stevenson and Vanessa Redgrave, religious leaders and local politicians will gather outside the Home Office later to urge ministers to immediately bring over hundreds of children stranded in the sprawling migrant camp.


There are 800 unaccompanied children among some 7,000 refugees living in the camp, according to the campaign group Citizens UK.


The group has drawn up a list of 387 who it says are eligible to be transferred to the UK.


They include 178 refugee children who have the right to come to the UK under an EU rule known as the Dublin III regulation because of their close family links in the country; and a further 209 eligible under an immigration provision known as the Dubs Amendment.


The amendment to the Immigration Act, originally put forward by Lord Dubs, requires the government to arrange for the transfer to the UK and support of unaccompanied refugee children from Europe.


Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Around 7,000 refugees are living in the sprawling camp

Lord Dubs, the Labour peer and long-time refugee campaigner, who came to Britain as a child on the Kindertransport programme to escape Nazi persecution, said: "I am deeply saddened that despite repeated calls from me and others, the government still seems to be dragging its feet on the commitments it made when the amendment in my name was accepted.


"Now that the new government has had some weeks to settle in after the EU referendum vote there really is no excuse for any further delay. Theresa May and Amber Rudd should be taking immediate action."


And Lord Dubs told BBC Radio 4"s Today programme that while some of the children in Calais may be older teenagers, they should still be considered for asylum.


"Even 17 year olds who"ve been traumatised by war and had their parents killed in front of them in say Syria, they"re pretty vulnerable. They also need help.


"It happens that there are more boys than girls, but I don"t think that"s the issue. Even the boys are pretty vulnerable. And they"re liable to be taken into trafficking, into criminality and so on.


"For young people, say 15 or 16, to be sleeping rough, with nobody to look after them, is a pretty hazardous thing, and they"re in danger."


Image copyright AP
Image caption Those living in the camp, mainly from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa, hope to cross the Channel – often using people traffickers to try to enter illegally

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We are in active discussions with the UNHCR, other partner organisations and the Italian, Greek and French governments to strengthen and speed up mechanisms to identify, assess and transfer unaccompanied refugee children to the UK where this in their best interests.


"We continue to work closely with the French government to ensure that children in Calais with family links in the UK are identified, receive sufficient support, and can access the Dublin family reunification process without delay."


The Conservative council leader in Kent, Paul Carter, told the Today programme that resources in the county were "stretched to the limit".


He also said the council was looking after 1,500 young people who had arrived unaccompanied and aged under 18. The cost of supporting an unaccompanied young asylum seeker in Kent is between £40,000 and £50,000 "per young person", he added.


"We believe the government must introduce a national dispersal system, and indeed pass a regulation to allow them to do so," he said.


Councillor Julian Bell, Labour leader of London"s Ealing Borough Council, said: "Councils like my own stand ready to do our bit to find homes and ensure that support services are in place.


"With goodwill and co-operation between central and local government, and with the support of local communities, these children could be brought here within days."


At the event in London, campaigners will also be remembering three-year-old Alan Kurdi, who drowned in the Mediterranean sea off Turkey"s coast after the boat sank which he and other migrants were travelling in.


Media captionThe father of Alan Kurdi has urged world leaders to keep the door open to refugees, as Fergal Keane reports

An image of his lifeless body, face down, washed up on the shore, sparked an international outcry over the human cost of the migrant crisis.


Alan"s brother Galib and mother Rihan also drowned when their boat sank en route to the Greek island of Kos.


His father, Abdullah Kurdi, survived, and told the BBC he still hoped that world leaders could stop the war in Syria.


Mr Kurdi, who now lives in northern Iraq, said: "At first the world was anxious to help the refugees. But this did not even last a month. In fact the situation got worse. The war has escalated and more people are leaving.


"I hope that all the leaders of the world can try and do good and stop the wars, so that the people can go back to normal life."


Original Article



Calais "Jungle" camp: UK urged to take in 400 refugee children
http://latiendadejm.com/blog/calais-jungle-camp-uk-urged-to-take-in-400-refugee-children/

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