Calais refugee children describe French reception centers as 'prisons'
Refugee children living in the French reception centers after the makeshift "Jungle" camp closure in Calais have been forced to work in farms, as many of them believes that they live in a "prison" rather than a reception center, a Britain-based charity groups said, the Independent reported yesterday.
Interviewing 33 refugee boys living in reception centers by phone, the report by Safe Passage shows that 15 percent of the boys did not "feel safe in the center" and 39 percent of them stated that they had been "better off in Calais."
Regarding harsh conditions in France's reception centers, many of the child migrants are desperate to reach Britain, which lies tantalizingly close across a narrow stretch of sea, saying they have relatives there.
The Calais camp came to symbolize Europe's fraught efforts to cope with a record influx of migrants fleeing war and poverty in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The minors have been housed temporarily in converted shipping containers in the northern seaside town of Calais after demolition teams tore down the sprawl of ramshackle shacks and tents nicknamed the "Jungle." The child migrants received colored bracelets marked with the number of the bus they would be travelling on. Most of the children come from war-ravaged Afghanistan and Sudan's Darfur region and are aged between 13 and 17, according to the charity Care for Calais.
Amid the Calais camp disclosure, Calais migrant camp children remains as one of the major area of conflict between U.K., France as their fates remained uncertain. European Union rules say Britain must take in unaccompanied children who have family ties. Britain has also made a wider commitment to taking in vulnerable migrant children under the so-called Dubs amendment passed in parliament this year.
Interviewing 33 refugee boys living in reception centers by phone, the report by Safe Passage shows that 15 percent of the boys did not "feel safe in the center" and 39 percent of them stated that they had been "better off in Calais."
Regarding harsh conditions in France's reception centers, many of the child migrants are desperate to reach Britain, which lies tantalizingly close across a narrow stretch of sea, saying they have relatives there.
The Calais camp came to symbolize Europe's fraught efforts to cope with a record influx of migrants fleeing war and poverty in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The minors have been housed temporarily in converted shipping containers in the northern seaside town of Calais after demolition teams tore down the sprawl of ramshackle shacks and tents nicknamed the "Jungle." The child migrants received colored bracelets marked with the number of the bus they would be travelling on. Most of the children come from war-ravaged Afghanistan and Sudan's Darfur region and are aged between 13 and 17, according to the charity Care for Calais.
Amid the Calais camp disclosure, Calais migrant camp children remains as one of the major area of conflict between U.K., France as their fates remained uncertain. European Union rules say Britain must take in unaccompanied children who have family ties. Britain has also made a wider commitment to taking in vulnerable migrant children under the so-called Dubs amendment passed in parliament this year.