Surge in child refugees in Calais as conditions reach ‘breaking point’

Hundreds of unaccompanied minors are sleeping rough on the northern French coast, with numbers almost doubling in the past three months, according to charities who warn the situation is only getting worse.

While figures show a rise from about 150 to 281, aid workers say the true numbers are likely to be higher as many displaced people, including lone minors as young as 12, are being pushed out of visible areas and further into the “margins of society” due to ramped-up security measures introduced as part of the UK and France’s response to a rise in migrant boat crossings last year.

Maddy Allen, field manager at Help Refugees, said : “Securitisation measures have really gone up since the attention on the migrant boat crossings in November. They’ve fenced up under the bridges where people used to sleep. Walls have been erected around the petrol station. It looks like a prison.

“But the rate of people trying to cross hasn’t slowed down. They are still here. People are pitching their tents on the side of the motorway. They’re sleeping in the surrounding area but they’re just further into the margins of society. They’re deep in the forest, deep in the landfill sites, deep in the sand dunes, just very hidden.”

Meanwhile child protection workers on the ground say that the transfer of lone minors to the UK under the Dubs Amendment – designed to grant vulnerable children safe passage to the UK – appears to have stopped, prompting rumours that the scheme has been closed.

A separate law designed to reunite child refugees with family members in Britain, known as Dublin III, is facing severe delays, which is said to be pushing eligible youngsters to try to cross illegally instead.

The Home Office denied that all 480 places available under the Dubs scheme had been filled, but refused to provide up-to-date figures on how many children had been transferred.

Ms Allen said the lack of information about legal routes for children meant a growing number were trying to cross the Channel illegally, placing them at risk of exploitation and trafficking.

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The Dubs Amendment, which was introduced in 2016 to prevent unaccompanied children who have fled their home countries from turning to traffickers in a bid to reach the UK, has come under scrutiny after ministers refused to provide updates on how many children have been approved under the scheme.

MPs and campaigners initially hoped the Dubs scheme would resettle around 3,000 children but ministers controversially set a limit of 480, despite councils saying they could find space for far more.

Immigration minister Caroline Nokes said in response to a parliamentary question in December 2018 that over 220 Dubs children were already in the UK and that transfers were “ongoing” – but sources told The Independent the spaces had been filled.

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A Home Office spokesperson said : “The UK has made a significant contribution to protecting vulnerable children, providing protection to over 34,500 children since the start of 2010.

“We committed to relocating 480 children under the ‘Dubs amendment’ and are determined to deliver on that.