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Campaigners appeal at Home Office for Calais children


Leaders of five London councils who are accepting children were presented with a Paddington bear who in the story arrives in London alone to be looked after by strangers

Leaders of five London councils who are accepting children were presented with a Paddington bear who in the story arrives in London alone to be looked after by strangers

Church groups and representatives from eight London councils, joined Lord Alfred Dubs, actresses Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson and children dressed as Paddington Bear, outside the Home Office on Monday afternoon, to hand in a petition appealing for the government to take in more refugee children, as the Calais 'Jungle' is demolished. The event was organised by Citizens UK and the charity Help Refugees.

Around 10,000 migrants and refugees have been living for months in the camp, in squalid conditions. Among them are more than 300 children entitled to come to the UK because they have relatives here. Many more unaccompanied children, all under 13, girls or orphans, are eligible to come to Britain under the Dubs Amendment, named after Lord Dubs, who came to Britain as a child refugee before World War Two, on the Kindertransport.

On Monday, the French authorities began pulling down the camp and moving the migrants to other centres around France.

Help Refugees said the demolition was "extremely distressing and confusing" for the children. People living in shipping containers by the camp had to leave at 7am, including unaccompanied children, despite an understanding they would be able to stay there until they were brought to Britain, the charity said on Monday afternoon.

"There are also many unaccompanied girls remaining in the camp who are eligible to come to the UK but who were not registered over the weekend," a spokesman said.

Citizens UK, which is helping to bring children from Calais under family re-unification laws, warned there were more than 1,000 children who were "at a serious risk of disappearing in the chaos" of the camp demolition.

Canon Pat Browne, Parish Priest at Holy Apostles, Pimlico, who came with six parishioners, told the crowd: "Our group includes Lucas, a 13 year-old boy who is a gifted singer who performed last week in La Scala Milan. His presence with us today focussed my mind to remember that it is children like him that we are trying to get out of the Jungle - to give them something of the opportunities he has been given, to develop their gifts and talents. One child neglected because I could not be bothered, is a judgement on me and my humanity. London has always been a leading light in welcoming the stranger. If we cease to do that we dehumanise ourselves as its citizens."

Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, from Farm Street Jesuit Church, told ICN: "It was heartening to return to the Home Office after six weeks and be able to say thank you to the government for listening... Much has been achieved but this issue is far from resolved. Following my visit with the faith delegation to Calais at the end of August it was crystal clear this was an issue which required immediate action. Some 400 unaccompanied children in the Jungle in danger of their lives are now being slowly reunited with families in the UK. But we need to keep up the pressure to ensure that in the dismantling of the Jungle, not one single child is left behind. And, as Lord Dubbs reminded us in his speech on Monday afternoon, the attention now turns to those trapped in Greece. Forced migration of children and adults is not going away. Amid the battles over immigration policy, human lives are still at risk."

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