Carol Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carol Monaghan on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees currently housed in the refugee camp in Calais are unaccompanied children; and what steps are being taken to ensure that the asylum applications of those children are prioritised.

James Brokenshire

The French NGO France Terre d’Asile (FTDA) has carried out a survey of children in the camps in the Calais area, which identified, within the scope of the survey, 43 children with claimed family links to the UK. We are working closely with the French Government and FTDA to ensure that where family links are established, transfers take place efficiently under the Dublin Regulation.

The transfer of cases deemed the responsibility of the UK on the basis of family unity provisions contained in the Dublin Regulation can take place relatively quickly and we have resources in place to facilitate this. An individual must first, however, claim asylum in France or another European state participating in the Regulation for the process to begin.

Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and we seconded an asylum expert to the French administration to facilitate the improvement of all stages of the process.

The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which inform unaccompanied children and others of their right to claim asylum in France and of the family reunion process.