France, UK speed up to resettle children from Calais refugee camp

World Today

French officials are trying to identify unaccompanied minors in the so-called “Jungle” refugee camp, before the controversial site is demolished. CCTV’s Kate Parkinson reports from Calais.

French officials are trying to identify unaccompanied minors in the so-called “Jungle” refugee camp, before the controversial site is demolished.

It’s a process that’s fraught with difficulties, as CCTV’s Kate Parkinson reports from Calais.
Follow Kate Parkinson on Twitter @KTP_news

The French and British government are speeding up the process of unaccompanied migrant children out of the “Jungle” and everyone here wants to get their case heard.

On Monday, 14 children arrived in London to be reunited with relatives already living in Britain.

More are expected to follow in the coming weeks, but campaigners said not enough children are going to be resettled.

The identification process is extremely complicated. Most of the minors are teenagers without passports or other forms of ID and proving their age and their claim to be travelling alone is difficult.

Soon “the Jungle” camp will be demolished and the thousands of people who call it home will be forcibly evicted.

Youth support groups said when part of the camp was destroyed earlier this year, more than 100 unaccompanied minors went missing.

And there is concern that children who are not granted safe passage to the U.K. will try more dangerous ways of getting there.