No Place for Children

No place for children Photo © Adam Hinton / Panos Pictur es No place for children 1

What are Dublin III and the Dubs amendment, and why are they important in Calais? Thousands of refugees have arrived in Calais since the refugee crisis hit the headlines last year. Between July and August 2016, over 2,000 new residents arrived at the so-called ‘Jungle’ camp, and in September, some estimates suggested that the population exceeded 10,000. Alarmingly, of the 1,179 children living in the ‘Jungle’, 1,022 – nearly 90 per cent of the total – are alone. The youngest child is just eight years old (Help Photo © Abbie T 1 Refugees, 19 September 2016 ). rayler -Smith/Panos Pictur es There are few child protection measures in Dublin III states that asylum seekers with family the ‘Jungle’. Children as young as eight or nine members already under international protection, live alongside adults, in tents providing scant or in the process of seeking asylum, have shelter from the elements.They rely upon the right to be transferred to join their family charities to provide food, water, sanitation and members and claim asylum in the same country. education, and with no accompanying adults In August 2016, Safe Passage UK counted looking out for them. They are at ever-present more than 170 unaccompanied children in the risk of abuse, exploitation and even trafficking. ‘Jungle’ with a legal right to join family members Many are struggling psychologically with the already in the UK, where ‘family members’ under trauma they have been through along their Article 8 of the regulations includes parents or journeys. They also face the threat of eviction legal guardians, siblings, aunts and uncles or from the French authorities planning to shut grandparents. Under Article 17, the ‘discretionary the camp. clause’ can also be used to request transfers What makes their situation all the more to live with other family members, if the asylum frustrating is that many of these children have seeker can be shown to be especially vulnerable a legal right to be in the UK. Under EU law, the and in particular need – as all unaccompanied Dublin III regulation is designed to protect the children are. internationally recognised right to an intact Further, the so-called ‘Dubs Amendment’ to the family unit – ‘an essential right of the refugee’ UK immigration bill, led by Lord Alf Dubs, saw (Final Conference of Plenipotentiaries at the the British government legislate to offer safe 1951 Convention). refuge in the UK to unaccompanied children if No place for children 2

it is in their best interests. It is also worth noting Methodology that the Dubs Amendment, and the debates surrounding it, have focused on children who A brief review of existing literature – research may not be ‘straightforward’ Dublin III cases, not on family reunification, the Dublin III regulation, having a clear and close family link in the UK. and unaccompanied children in Calais – was The ‘Dubs amendment’ was interpreted by carried out, prior to a research visit to Calais. In the UK government as applying to those Calais, in-depth semi-structured interviews took who entered Europe on or before 20 March place with members of voluntary organisations. 2016, without requiring family links to the UK, These included organisations processing Dublin but prioritising those with family in the initial III cases as well as those working to support identification. Safe Passage UK counted at and protect children within the camp. Where least 200 children in Calais who meet this volunteers could not be met during the trip, criterea in August 2016. Yet not one child has phone interviews were conducted at a later been transferred to the UK yet under the Dubs date. An interview also took place with one Amendment, who had not already qualified minor living in the camp, whose case is being for family reunion under Dublin III. Again, the handled by Safe Passage UK. In addition, a visit discretionary clause of Article 17 could be used to the ‘Jungle’ camp took place, in which the to transfer these children legally, even without researcher was able to view camp conditions, family links, based on humanitarian need. including accommodation and volunteer-run youth, legal, women and children’s services. This report will outline: > why the law is not working for these children, > why they have so far been unable to claim their legal right to be transferred to the UK – either under the Dublin III regulation, or the new Dubs amendment – and, > what needs to change. So far, voluntary organisations and lawyers working pro bono have been able to facilitate the transfer of just under 100 unaccompanied refugee children to the UK under the Dublin III Regulation, the majority of whom came from France. However, with conditions so dire in the ‘Jungle’, and so many children missing out on their education, a safe, loving home and proper support to deal with their trauma, that this simply is not enough. 1 https://www.facebook.com/HelpRefugeesUK/posts/306615809699099 No place for children 3

Main findings Overall, our report found that the current Fact box processes in place to look after and transfer 2 unaccompanied children are insufficient. (accurate as of August 2016) : They are: > 1,022 (Help Refugees) unaccompanied refugee minors in Calais. Inaccessible > 178 childr en in Calais have family links > A lack of age and language-appropriate to the UK and are likely eligible under information to help children make decisions. Dublin III for transfer to the UK. > A lack of human resources, including > 72 childr en have been successfully administrative staff and interpreters, to enable reunited with a family member in the UK children to access asylum services, and then from the Calais camp, thanks to the work to make the transfers once approved. of voluntary organisations. Unsafe > No childr en without family links to the > A shortage of safe accommodation for UK have been transferred under the unaccompanied children, despite the state Dubs amendment since it was passed. being obligated to provide it. > 10-11 months is the average time it > A lack of safeguarding provisions in the takes to process cases under Dublin III*. camp, leaving children living alongside adults (*from the time a voluntary organisation identifies with inadequate shelter, nutrition, healthcare, the child to them reaching the UK) education or psychosocial support. Restrictive > From appointments in France, to Home Office responses, and getting a final transfer date, there are lengthy waiting times which vary from child to child. This leaves children disillusioned and losing hope. > Insufficient discretion or consideration is made for the child’s vulnerability and circumstances. Not sustainable > Continued reliance on voluntary groups, including lawyers working pro bono, in processing Dublin III cases is not sustainable, and, without a significant injection of resources, will eventually lead to a standstill as voluntary organisations become saturated with increasingly heavy caseloads. Photo © Mirva Helenius/Finnish Red Cr > The lack of a process for children without family in the UK means that the spirit of the Dubs amendment – to assist the most vulnerable children in Europe – is not being met. oss No place for children 4

How is the Dublin III process failing children with family in the UK? 3 HOW IT SHOULD WORK An unaccompanied child claims asylum in France, and is asked at the first interview whether s/he has family elsewhere in Europe with whom s/he would like to be reunited under Dublin III France is obliged, under its own domestic legislation, to provide child protection until the transfer can be made (e.g. in a children’s home or foster care) Préfecture (capital of the department, rough equivalent of a county) issues a ‘take charge request’ to the Home Office of the UK, presenting evidence of the family link between the child and his/her relative (within 3 months maximum) The Home Office responds, either accepting the request to ‘take charge’ of the child’s asylum claim, or rejecting it on grounds of insufficient evidence to prove the family link (within 2 months maximum) If the request is accepted: France works with the UK to arrange the child’s transfer to the UK, where s/he is reunited with family and supported to claim asylum in the UK (within 6 months maximum) How children are being let down Until March 2016, not a single child had been transferred from Calais to the UK under Dublin III. Voluntary groups had been working since September 2015 to help children access their legal rights. Following breakthroughs in early 2016, Safe Passage UK and other voluntary organisations have been able to successfully support unaccompanied children to access Dublin III, and 72 children had been transferred to the UK using the full procedure at the time of writing. However, the process has weaknesses and failings at almost every point, as this report will show. 2 Safe Passage UK; Legal Shelter 3 http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/examination-of-applicants/docs/evaluation_of_the_ implementation_of_the_dublin_iii_regulation_en.pdf No place for children 5

Making the initial asylum claim and getting a ‘take charge’ request issued Initially, when voluntary organisations arrived in government to receive initial registrations to claim Calais, children in the ‘Jungle’ had no idea about asylum and book formal appointments at the their eligibility for transfer. A lack of accessible, prefecture. However, with only a handful of staff, age and language-appropriate information what should be a drop-in service has become meant that children believed they would be hugely over-subscribed. There is a queue of 30 forced to apply for asylum in France if they made to 40 people outside the office every day, both themselves known to authorities. Many hoped to adults and children, and a three-month waiting reach the UK and reunite with family members, list for an appointment with FTDA, though so were keen to avoid remaining in France. In minors are being fast-tracked. This is a lengthy addition, several had faced abuse while staying wait for a relatively simple procedure – taking in the locality. the child’s name, parents’ names and details A mistrust of the authorities, along with pressure of their journey to France – and often, when from the smugglers who profit by convincing the child arrives at their allotted time, there is vulnerable asylum seekers not to put their faith no appropriate interpreter available; children in the law, dissuaded children from applying frequently resort to using friends or other camp for asylum. Voluntary organisations conducted residents as translators. outreach work with the children, translating When they do receive an appointment at the information into appropriate languages – both préfecture, a similar story unfolds. Despite written and oral, since many children have been having made an appointment, voluntary out of school for some time – and working organisations report a minimum three-hour wait long and hard to gain the children’s trust and for a ten minute interview, fingerprinting, taking convince them that they could legally apply for a photograph and photocopying documents. asylum in the UK. Translators are often absent or speak the wrong For those few children who did seek asylum language. One problem reported by everyone in the early months, French authorities were we spoke to was the severe shortage of ad hoc not reliably asking them whether they had administrators – the adult legal representatives family elsewhere in Europe and wished to required by French law to accompany and be transferred. Outside of Calais, we heard represent minors throughout the asylum examples of cases in Dunkirk in which children process. Without an ad hoc administrator, the were promised by OFII (French Office of appointment cannot take place and it can be a Immigration and Integration) that their family six-week wait for another one. In August 2016, in the UK would be tracked down and a take there were only three ad hoc administrators charge request issued, but this did not happen and one coordinator, all voluntary, all recruited and the child ended up involuntarily seeking and trained by the French Red Cross. Ad hoc asylum in France. In one case, the voluntary administrators must fulfil certain conditions: as organisation working in Dunkirk attempted to well as being over 30, French and demonstrating track down the boy to support him to appeal a good moral character, they must have sufficient but, angry and upset, he had disappeared and available time to take on an intensive caseload was impossible to find. Voluntary organisations without pay. There is a backlog of cases, some now support children to try to ensure these of which were started as early as June, which breaches do not happen anymore. the ad hoc administrators are simply too busy to However, now that the children are beginning to take on, and so the children wait in the ‘Jungle’ trust the system, there is a severe lack of human in limbo until their cases can proceed. resources available to handle the sheer volume Finally, once the take charge requests have been of claims. An organisation called FTDA (France made, basic administrative errors often cause Terre d’Asile) has been mandated by the French severe delays. We heard one report of a request No place for children 6

being submitted to the local council where the how “some of the most mentally and emotionally child’s relative resides, rather than the Home fragile children, with the worst mental health, Office; this case then stalled until a voluntary going through breakdowns, are those who have organisation chased it up to discover the delay. applied for Dublin III and are waiting. That glimmer Another had been submitted under the wrong of hope creates huge anxiety – they can’t let it article within the Dublin III regulations so, even go; they ask every day if we’ve heard back from though the child had a legal case for transfer, the lawyer yet. Not having a timescale makes it the Home Office rejected the request until it was impossible to manage their expectations – we resubmitted correctly. don’t even know if their cases will work.” Case study Case study “There was one 15-year-old Syrian boy “One boy, a 16-year-old from Afghanistan, we worked with – he was totally alone had a legal case to join his dad in the and terrified. He didn’t have any of the UK and the stress made him a complete family members in the UK covered by wreck. Another boy, a 14-year-old, had Article 8 (parents, grandparents, siblings, an uncle in the UK he was trying to reach. aunts or uncles). However, his father’s His uncle was so worried about his mental cousin lived there so he could have been health that he travelled from Britain to the transferred under Article 17 as a ‘vulnerable ‘Jungle’ and brought him to me. I took discretionary case’. He met with one of our him in too: he was incommunicative, pro bono lawyers at the start of March, and dissociative, and would wake up at night his documents were finalised for submission and start pulling his hair out. Thankfully, by mid-June. The take charge request he was Syrian so he had all his papers was made two weeks later, but rejected at in order, and Safe Passage UK worked the end of July because it was sent under with him to make his case successful.” – Article 8 by mistake. The Home Office gave Voluntary youth worker in the ‘Jungle’ a deadline of three weeks for the French authorities to resubmit – when we told the Recommendations: boy, he started crying and ran away; we found out that he went to Belgium and 1. The British and French governments should nearly tried to cross to the UK illegally with proactively undertake awareness-raising outreach a smuggler. Thankfully he came back, and work around Dublin III – making sure information is his take charge request was submitted in age and language-appropriate. mid-August, but we know he’s still trying to 2. Préfecture staff should be fully trained, aware cross the Eurotunnel every night.” Voluntary of and accountable for undertaking asylum organisation member in Calais. interviews and take charge requests correctly and accurately. Understandably, these delays cause the children 3. French authorities should ensure there are a to become disillusioned, frustrated and desperate. sufficient number of trained ad hoc administrators They may have stopped trying to cross to the UK to take on all current cases and attend all illegally when their cases were first taken up, but necessary appointments, investing additional as they begin to lose hope, many resume their resources if necessary. routine of sleeping during the day and risking 4. French authorities should ensure interpreters are their lives to reach the UK at night. Voluntary available, in the correct language, at the date and organisations know of at least three children who time of appointments at FTDA and the préfecture had a legal right to join family in the UK, but died – prioritising the cases of children if necessary. trying to make their own way as they waited for their cases to proceed. The case of 15-year- 5. The British government should take proactive old Masud from Afghanistan hit the headlines measures to meet remaining shortfalls – for in January 2016 when he suffocated in a lorry example, by stationing Dublin officers in Calais to crossing to the UK, having waited months to be facilitate the process and providing more funding reunited with his sister. One youth worker told us to meet capacity shortfalls. 4 http://www.defenseurdesdroits.fr/actions/protection-des-droits-libertes/decision/decision-mde-2016-113-du-20-avril- 2016-relative-la 5 http://www.defenseurdesdroits.fr/fr/actus/presse/communiques-de-presse/mineurs-non-accompagnes-le-defenseur-des- droits-salue-le-travail No place for children 7

Accessing the right to child protection as a declared unaccompanied minor Once unaccompanied minors declare Case study themselves to French authorities, they are legally entitled to safeguarding within French “There was one boy who came to me – child protection services – in practical terms, he’s profoundly deaf, he’d been attacked; this means either a place in a children’s home, he came to me with the blood still on his or with a foster family. However, capacity is clothes. He didn’t feel safe in the camp extremely limited: there are only 45 places within with the way people treated him, and the Saint-Omer accommodation centre, run by wanted safe accommodation. I phoned FTDA on behalf of the French government, while the authorities but they just told me there another centre, Foyer Georges Brassens, has are no spaces available. In the UK, if I just five spaces for asylum-seeking children. phone social services and tell them there’s 72 spaces for unaccompanied children have a vulnerable child in need of care, even if been promised within the existing Jules Ferry there are no spaces in the immediate area, accommodation for women and children, they’ll find a foster home somewhere, even but when these are built, they will not contain if it means a two-hour drive.” Voluntary anywhere near the required amount of spaces youth worker in the ‘Jungle’. to house the 1,022 children known to be living alone in the ‘Jungle’. Construction has yet to The volunteers do their best, running youth begin, though it was planned to be completed by centres, keeping an eye out for particularly the start of September 2016. vulnerable children and referring them to relevant It is the responsibility of the state to find volunteer-run services, like healthcare and legal accommodation for unaccompanied children support. This is not easy work. As one remarked once they declare themselves and request to us, “all the important work is being done by protection. However, voluntary organisations volunteers – this is real work; we’re taking on report a lack of action by the French authorities. the responsibility of the state”. However, there is When a rare space does become available in no denying that conditions remain dire. French one of these centres the authorities are not Defender of Rights, Jacques Toubon, issued a arranging transport but, instead, requesting statement of concern regarding unaccompanied volunteers to bring the children. One volunteer children in the ‘Jungle’ in April 2016, urging the reported that the authorities turn away children 4 state to fulfil its responsibilities . Three months over 14, claiming that younger children are more later, he noted his regret that urgent action had vulnerable and therefore higher priority – while 5 yet to be taken . this may be partly true, it remains a failure of Plenty has been written about the appalling French statutory child protection. “We say to conditions in camp, but the words of one them: if you don’t find them a place, then that 14-year-old Afghan resident sum it up well: means you’re happy to accept that children are “Only animals live in the jungle – everyone living in the ‘Jungle’ with little or no protection, at knows humans shouldn’t live here. We don’t get risk,” we were told. regular food, regular sleep…there’s only one slot each day when we can get food or a shower, but if we miss it, we don’t get to eat or wash. There’s nothing to do in the camp; we just live in constant fear and anxiety. It stinks too – it’s very hard to keep clean, so everyone is sweaty, and the showers run on a ticket system.” 6 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/02/calais-refugee-camp-running-out-of-food-as-donor-fatigue-sees- donations-dry-up 7 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/02/france-vows-to-dismantle-’Jungle’-refugee-camp-calais No place for children 8

Matters are only getting worse. In September prey on children’s mistrust of authorities 2016, for the first time in months, volunteers in and frustration with the cumbersome legal the camp became concerned by a lack of food processes, persuading them to pay huge and children going hungry6. With no building sums – often getting themselves into debt in materials allowed to enter the camp, and the the process – to be hidden away in the back of French government’s plan to evict and dismantle a lorry. Unaccompanied children have nobody 7 the camp , children are facing the forthcoming looking out for them, and so make perfect winter with uncertainty and no assurance of prey for traffickers. Europol reports that at least adequate shelter to protect them. 10,000 children have already gone missing 10 Lack of adequate healthcare is also a problem, since entering Europe , with reports of missing though voluntary organisations do their best. children not being followed up adequately by We heard from them how camp conditions – authorities. One volunteer told us of phoning poor sanitation, unsafe food and cramped living the police after seeing a child being dragged spaces – mean that illnesses develop and spread away by an adult, seemingly sedated. Another rapidly, an assessment supported by a Médecins told of the limitations to current anti-trafficking 8 measures: “When the anti-trafficking people du Monde report in late 2015 . In addition, come, they are visible; everyone knows and children suffer injuries in their attempts to access crowds around them. It’s impossible to give the Eurotunnel, including infected cuts to their information privately, so it’s hard for people to hands from the barbed wire fence, wounds from speak up.” police rubber bullets, and eye problems caused by police tear gas. It is imperative that children are treated as exactly that: as children first, before asylum seekers or refugees. Their welfare is paramount, and the rights accorded to children under international agreements are universal, irrespective of a child’s immigration status. Recommendations 1. French authorities should make sufficient Photo © T safe accommodation rapidly available to unaccompanied minors who request it – and om Pilston ensure appropriate arrangements for Dublin- eligible children who need to remain in touch with In addition to the lack of adequate food, authorities during their transfer process. sanitation, leisure and education activities, 2. French authorities should ensure enough social children also face severe shortfalls in child workers and other child protection measures are protection. The container accommodation, in place for children once in run by organisation La Vie Active on behalf of safe accommodation. the French government, is only meant to host 3. If the proposed demolitions and evacuations adult men – but children have been admitted of the ‘Jungle’ go ahead, French authorities too. There, they live alongside adults with no must not allow unaccompanied children to be safeguarding in place; children report having left homeless – a reception centre should be set their clothes stolen and being unable to sleep up until safe homes can be found for every child, as the men are up late talking loudly or playing and for those who have a right to be transferred music. Elsewhere in the camp, children also live to the UK, their cases must be expedited. alongside adults, leaving them open to abuse – 4. British and French authorities should provide Unicef has reported instances of forced labour funding for basic food, hygiene, healthcare and 9 and sexual exploitation in the Calais camp . educational needs for children in the camp, The risk of being trafficked or taken advantage in order to meet their responsibilities under of by smugglers is also ever-present. Smugglers international law. 8 https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/files/Calais_Health_Report.pdf 9 http://www.unicef.org.uk/Media-centre/Press-releases/Sexual-exploitation-trafficking-and-abuse-engulfing-the-lives-of- children-in-the-camps-of-Calais-and-Dunkirk/ 10 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/30/fears-for-missing-child-refugees No place for children 9

Getting Home Office approval and arranging the transfer In order for the Home Office to accept a take Case study charge request, proof of the family link must be provided – this includes official papers (birth “One 14-year-old boy from Afghanistan was certificates, passports etc), as well as family completely undocumented, as so many photos, records of communication, corroboration are. He’d been in the camp for nine months between family members’ asylum interviews and when we began working with him, and his other forms of evidence. Voluntary organisations older brother was in the UK, though they are getting pro bono support from lawyers to hadn’t seen one another for ten years. The assist in this task. Understandably, for children Home Office disputed their family link as the who have undertaken long and dangerous older brother hadn’t mentioned his younger journeys – including from conflict zones – access sibling in his own asylum application to the to paperwork and records can be difficult. UK, and demanded a DNA test. This was Pro bono lawyers spend on average “15 to 40 before the courts had ruled that a child can hours per straightforward case”, interviewing be brought to the UK for DNA testing, and children with the help of voluntary interpreters the boy was so frustrated at the length of the – more complex cases, such as those where wait, he travelled illegally via the Eurotunnel items of paperwork is missing, can take much – thankfully, he made it alive.” Voluntary longer. The most difficult conversations are those organisation member in Calais in which a lawyer has to tell a child that there is little hope of his or her case working out – not In some cases, the Home Office has not because they do not have a family member or responded to take charge requests, leading to a legitimate legal case, but because convincing voluntary organisations, including the Red Cross, the authorities of the relation will simply be too to chase them up. In other cases, the Home difficult. Sometimes the Home Office deems the Office has accepted the request, but there are evidence insufficient and requests a DNA test. no ad hoc administrators available to let the child However, these are illegal in France without a know as per France’s regulations, and it is again court order11, and voluntary organisations lack up to voluntary organisations to follow up. the time, funds and legal resources to go through Once the request has been accepted and the process of gaining judicial approval, making the child is informed, the British and French DNA evidence almost impossible to obtain. Safe authorities have up to six months (in the Passage UK successfully litigated against the 13 Home Office, winning their case to have one legislation ) to arrange the transfer, though child applicant transferred to the UK and put into some people we spoke to understood the care while the DNA test took place in Britain, French Government’s policy to be closer to three and hopes that this will set a precedent for future months. As well as booking the train ticket, 12 an ad hoc administrator must take the child cases . Other reasons for rejection include to the station and an OFII staff member must administrative errors, as outlined previously, or accompany him or her on the journey; translators delaying a response in order to conduct a social are not provided as a matter of course, but assessment of the relative’s home in the UK. voluntary organisations are supplying these. Meanwhile, children are left vulnerable in the Upon arriving at St Pancras International, a room ‘Jungle’ for further weeks and months. must be made available in which the child’s fingerprints are taken and they can make their asylum application. Lining up all these resource requirements can mean waits of weeks or months for transfer. While they wait, these are children not in safe accommodation; instead, No place for children 10

they are living each day in the ‘Jungle’. When Recommendations we visited in early August, at least 13 children, 1. The Home Office should use more discretion as well as a couple with a young child, had when it comes to the evidence required been waiting in the camp for more than six to prove family links, given a) the extreme weeks to be transferred. The UK government, vulnerability of unaccompanied minors, and b) in discussions with the French government, understanding of the context of their country have made a commitment to speed up these of origin. waits, and Home Office officials often chase up 2. The Home Office should abide by their transfers on behalf of voluntary organisations. recent commitment to respond to all take 14 Case study charge requests within ten days . If they “One 16-year-old Syrian boy had applied are misplaced, cases should be prioritised to join his family in the UK through Dublin and the child reassured and informed of the III. Not only was he vulnerable because he new timescale. was alone, but he had also been caught in 3. The Home Office should exercise discretion the crossfire of a fight in the camp that was in responding to requests – for example, nothing to do with him – he’d been badly rather than rejecting a request due to an injured and was still recovering. When he administrative error or lack of proof, instead didn’t get a response to the take charge requesting further information or correction of request, we chased up the Home Office, the mistake. who claimed it had never been received. We 4. French authorities should speed up the then turned to the French authorities, who transfer process – if there is insufficient provided proof of the date that it had been capacity of OFII or too few ad hoc sent – the Home Office then admitted that administrators, another organisation should be it had been ‘misplaced’ and promised to mandated to carry out these functions. prioritise it. The request was accepted over a 5. Once a take charge request has been month ago, but he still doesn’t have a date of accepted, and the UK is effectively responsible departure. What would have happened if we for an asylum-seeking child, the Home Office weren’t around to chase up his application? should explore ways of taking responsibility How long would he have been waiting?” for the transfer process rather than it being a Voluntary organisation member in Calais. responsibility of the French government. Photo © BRC 11 Article 16-10 to 16-13, French Civil Code. https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/ affichCode.do;jsessionid=004CBD3DCCA0F482A837DCD60D65F317. tpdjo12v_1?idSectionTA=LEGISCTA000006136513&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006070721&dateTexte=20120728 12 https://www.ein.org.uk/news/upper-tribunal-grants-judicial-review-brought-unaccompanied-calais-children 13 http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/examination-of-applicants/docs/evaluation_of_the_ implementation_of_the_dublin_iii_regulation_en.pdf 14 https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2016-09-05/debates/1609052000010/FamilyReunificationEurope No place for children 11

What about the Dubs amendment? The Dubs amendment, spearheaded by EU relocation schemes. In either case, it is vital Lord Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK on the that a best interest assessment is carried out for Kindertransport during the Second World War, each child, to ensure that the transfer would not led to the British government committing in law harm the child and would be for his or her overall to accept unaccompanied children who arrived benefit. Currently, there is no comprehensive in Europe before 20 March 2016. Campaigners assessment system in Calais, and so one must be were aiming to secure a guarantee of 3,000 put in place. children, but in the end, the amendment avoided Whatever the solution, it is clear both specifying a total, and instead deferred to the governments must be more proactive in helping capacity of individual local authorities to determine children who may qualify under the Dubs how many children they could accept.15 However, amendment. One voluntary group in the ‘Jungle’ despite being passed into legislation on 9 May told of how the news of the Dubs amendment 2016, not a single child has yet been transferred gave hope to many children with no family to the UK under this amendment – all arrivals have elsewhere in Europe, that finally, there would be a been under the pre-existing Dublin III regulations. solution for them. However, as the months have As an additional piece of law alongside Dublin passed, they have begun to feel despondent III, the spirit of the Dubs amendment was again at the lack of clear path ahead of them. understood by voluntary organisations to support Recommendations children without family elsewhere in Europe, 1. The British government should put in place and no existing recourse to law for resettlement a straightforward system as soon as possible besides the underused discretionary clause of for transferring unaccompanied children Dublin III. Safe Passage UK recently carried out its without family in the UK – providing it is in their own headcount of unaccompanied minors in the 16 ‘Jungle’, finding over 200 children without family best interests . elsewhere in Europe, who arrived before 20 March 2. British and French authorities should ensure and are therefore eligible for transfer under the that a comprehensive best interest assessment amendment (August 2016). system is put in place in Calais. One possible option is to transfer children 3. The British government should adopt Article under the existing Dublin III system, utilising the 10(3) of the EU Directive on Family Reunion, in line discretionary clause for humanitarian reasons. with the majority of European countries, to give However, this requires cooperation between the refugee children with parents outside of Europe French and British authorities, as it is the French the right to be reunified in the UK. authorities’ responsibility to process and issue 4. The British government should advocate and the take charge request. The UK must be more cooperate with the French government to make proactive in its efforts; voluntary organisations the transfer process as smooth as possible. should not be relied upon to take the cases of the 5. The British government should ensure that eligible children forward. British officials should be all children entering the UK, both under the Dubs deployed to reach out to the children and support Amendment and as straightforward Dublin III their cases, using Safe Passage UK’s list. cases, receive sufficient resources, akin to Alternatively, if the Dublin III process is not those provided to children arriving through sped up and improved, another, faster, less resettlement programmes. bureaucratic system may be required to enable 6. British social services and foster carers should the UK to rapidly fulfil the spirit of the Dubs be adequately supported, provided with the skills amendment. This could take place under a and capacity to give children the care they require, bilateral relocation arrangement between France including cultural awareness, psychosocial and the UK, if not under the auspices of current support and mental healthcare. No place for children 12

Conclusion and summary of key recommendations It is clear that the situation for unaccompanied 3. Though Dublin III regulation time limits allow children in the Calais ‘Jungle’ is as untenable for an eleven-month process end-to-end, when as it is urgent: physical conditions are wholly dealing with children surviving alone with little inadequate, children are missing out on an or no protection, concerted efforts must be education, and the almost total lack of protection made to prioritise these cases and speed up the leaves young people vulnerable to abuse, process, including the Home Office proactively exploitation by smugglers and trafficking. taking charge of arranging transfers once take Children must be accommodated in a place of charge requests are accepted. safety, with access to protection. Amongst these 4. The Home Office must be more flexible, children, a large number have a legal claim to efficient and proactive, responding quickly leave France altogether and be transferred to to take charge requests, setting reasonable the UK – either to join family members under the requirements for evidence, and ensuring that Dublin III regulation, or to receive humanitarian once a request is accepted, the child is informed protection under the Dubs amendment. and transport arranged as soon as possible. It is unacceptable that children are surviving in 5. French authorities must ensure that each the camp alone, for months on end when, for and every unaccompanied child is provided many, existing laws offer a legal right to be in a with safe accommodation and adequate safe home with family. psychosocial support. We believe that, if the requisite will and resources 6. All children who arrive in the UK, whether were committed, all eligible unaccompanied living with family or elsewhere, must be provided children could be here in the UK before the end with psychosocial and mental health support as of 2016, adequately protected along the way. In appropriate. Similarly, those looking after order to achieve this: children must be supported to provide the 1. Where the Home Office is aware of children care they need. who have a legal right to be here – either under 7. The UK should adopt Article 10 of the EU the Dubs Amendment or Dublin III, through Directive on Family Reunion to enable refugee information received from the French authorities children to be reunited with their parents. or voluntary organisations – the UK government should explore and agree with the French authorities a more streamlined, rapid procedure to relocate these children to the UK. The current Thanks and acknowledgements Dublin III procedures are insufficient. This report was researched and written by Louiza 2. More human resources are needed in France, Chekhar of British Red Cross. Support and within FTDA and the préfecture, including ad guidance was provided by colleagues Karl Pike, hoc administrators and interpreters. More Lara Cumming, Anna MacSwan and Olivia Field. caseworkers are also needed to support the British Red Cross would like to thank all those preparation of evidence, and outreach workers who supported and facilitated this research, to provide appropriate information to children. including Safe Passage UK, Legal Shelter, Such work should not be the sole responsibility Refugee Youth Services and the Women and of voluntary groups. Children’s Centre. 15 http://www.helprefugees.org.uk/2016/05/09/dubs-amendment-passes-your-help-needed-to-bring-unaccompanied- refugee-children-to-safety/ 16 UNHCR states: “Broadly, the term ‘best interests’ refers to the well-being of a child. It is determined by a variety of individual circumstances (age, level of maturity, the presence or absence of parents, the child’s environment and experiences). States are primarily responsible for implementing the best interests principle.” (https://emergency.unhcr.org/ entry/44309/best-interests-procedure-for-children) No place for children 13