Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-07-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan (1) urgently to meet with the government of France and the UNHCR to set up systems for providing reliable information for refugees and migrants in Calais and Dunkirk; and (2) to take steps to ensure that the Dublin III Regulations work for family reunion.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
As stated in Written Answer HL649 on 27 June under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015 the UK and France have committed to ensur-ing that 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 a UK asylum expert was seconded to the French administration earlier this year to facilitate the improvement of all stages of the process.
We continue to work closely so that both the UK and France can fulfil our re-spective obligations under the Dublin Regulation to family members, including unaccompanied children, who qualify for transfer to the UK under the Regula-tion’s family unity provisions.
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 the family reunion process. Whilst the management of migrants in Calais is the responsibility of the French Govern-ment, the UK recognises that vulnerable people in the camps are at risk from exploitation and trafficking. This is why the UK Government funds a project, run by a French NGO, to identify and direct vulnerable people to protection, support and advice within France.
