Dunkirk Fire: Statement On Unaccompanied Minors

Bishop Jonathan Clark, who works with Safe Passage, a programme which has been working with unaccompanied minors in the Dunkirk camp since April 2016 said:

“There are over 50 unaccompanied children in Dunkirk with family in the UK, all of whom have every moral and legal right to be here. The Safe Passage team are working to contact all of the children we work with to ensure they are unharmed.

“Not only has the UK failed to learn the lessons of Calais, or to set up a functioning family reunion system for those who have a legal right to come to the UK, but in some cases, the government has used the court system to try to keep out children with legal rights to transfer.

“The unaccompanied children in the camp are currently at enormous risk; alone, vulnerable and now homeless. We call on the government to speed up the family reunion process for those who are eligible and expedite the transfer of some of the most vulnerable under the ‘Dubs amendment’.”