The Home Secretary announced that almost 200 unaccompanied children had been transferred from the camp to the UK under the Dubs amendment to the Immigration Act 2016 and that hundreds more would follow in the coming weeks. I accept that the Home Office has accelerated the processing of child refugees in recent weeks, but the Government has known for months that the Calais camp was due to close. Men, women and children have been living
in this camp in appalling conditions, and in the absence of proactive action by either the UK or French governments, those people were at the mercy of people smugglers and criminal gangs. Following the closure of the ‘Jungle’ camp, we still have children who are sleeping in sub-zero temperatures. There are violence and a lack of sanitation, and there are threats of sexual assault. These conditions are indefensible. Leading charities believe there are hundreds of unaccompanied children in the camp who should be resettled immediately. The Government must ensure we fulfil our
moral responsibilities by resettling those unaccompanied children. I pay tribute to the volunteers and UK staff who have worked in the Calais camp in difficult and dangerous conditions.
