Refugees, Children and Calais – a factfile

1022

Unaccompanied minors living in the Calais Jungle
 

387

Children in the Calais Jungle with a legal right to be in the UK (source: Help Refugees)
 

175

Number of children eligible under Dublin 3: the European Union’s Dublin regulation entitles children to be reunited with family members already living in the UK
 
 

212

Number of children eligible under the Dubs amendment
The Dubs amendment, which was passed in May 2016 is supposed to bring an unspecified number of the most vulnerable unaccompanied children in Europe to safety in the UK, much like the Kinder transport during the Second World War
 

0

Number of children who have been transferred to the UK (from Calais or anywhere) who do not already have family here
 

100

Number of children who went missing the last time a clearance of the Calais Jungle was attempted by the French authorities (February 2016) 

 

17 October

When the demolition of the Calais jungle will begin, according to France's human rights watchdog
 

7-9,000+

Estimated number of people currently living in the Calais Jungle

 

 
 

How you can help

 

• Write to your MP about the situation, asking them to take urgent action to reunite children in Calais eligible for family reunification under Dublin 3 and to implement the Dubs Amendment. There's a template here.

• Pray about the situation

• Download a poster and a PowerPoint to use in church

• In July the Government launched a community sponsorship scheme for refugees. The vision for community sponsorship has emerged as a key campaign for the National Refugee Welcome Board, of which our Baptist Union is an active member.

• The Government also launched an online service that enables people to offer a range of help for refugees. 
   

Government response to the refugee crisis

In September 2015 the government pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees via the Syrian vulnerable persons resettlement (VPR) scheme. Its latest published statistics in July showed that more than 1,800 Syrians in need of protection have so far been provided with refuge in the UK.

More than 160 local authorities have already signed up to accept refugees via the VPR scheme, on a voluntary basis.

In addition to the refugees arriving under the VPR scheme, the government has also committed to accepting up to 3,000 vulnerable children and family members directly from the Middle East and North Africa.
 
 

Citizens UK 

 
Citizens UK is the national home of community organising – a network of over 350 faith groups, schools and colleges that work together for the common good. They have been campaigning on the Syrian crisis for over 18 months and convened the National Refugee Welcome Board to help coordinate the public’s response. Our Baptist Union has been an active member of the board.

So far Citizens UK efforts to persuade councils to participate in resettling Syrian refugees have persuaded 44 councils to offer 3,097 places.

They’ve identified 700 private landlords who are offering properties, persuaded a dozen universities to offer £3.5 million of scholarships for refugees and successfully challenged the Prime Minister to resettle at least 1,000 people before Christmas.

Citizens UK has established Safe Passage; a group of volunteer lawyers, interpreters and refugee charity specialists setting up a process so that those who have a good legal right to claim asylum in the UK may do so. They have launched an emergency fund to raise money to help unaccompanied minors escape the immediate threat of demolition of the Calais camp.