Commitments from France and the United Kingdom

On 3 March 2016, at the UK-France summit in Amiens, François Hollande declared that when “those unaccompanied minors [in Calais] have family links in the UK, [they] should join the UK, in a quick and effective manner”.

In the UK, following strong public support, the government approved an amendment (the "Dubs" amendment) to the new Immigration Act (published on 12 May), which foresees the relocation to the UK of unaccompanied minors present in Europe. The exact number of children concerned will have to be determined in consultation with local authorities. Davis Cameron specified that the government would work with UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and Save the Children to implement the plan and that only young people registered in Greece, Italy and France before 20 march 2016 would be considered.

The situation of unaccompanied minors since the dismantling of the "jungle" of Calais

Unaccompanied minors represented almost a quarter of the population of the Calais "jungle" dismantled on October 24th.

During dismantling, more than 1,900 unaccompanied minors were sheltered in 66 centers of a new type, the CAOMI (Centres d'accueil et d'orientation pour mineurs isolés, Reception and Orientation Centers for Unaccompanied Minors) throughout France, waiting for the British authorities to answer their request to join the United Kingdom.

While the United Kingdom committed, with the Dubs amendment, to hosting the unaccompanied minors of Calais, the Home Office stated criteria for the eligibility of minors to join the United Kingdom in a circular dated Novembre 8th, 2016 : only minors under 12, minors at high risk of sexual exploitation, those under 15 years of Syrian or Sudanese nationality, or those under 18 accompanying the previous ones will be allowed to join the United Kingdom.

On December 15th, the Home Office announced that only 800 unaccompanied minors would be allowed to come to the United Kingdom.

To deal with this situation of emergency, and in the best interest of these young people, France terre d'asile started a mission of information and promotion of the possibilities of reception and integration in the French devices adapted to their situation. The aim is to encourage them to enter the French child welfare system, which is administered by the departments and, for those who could not benefit from this welfare system, to provide them information about the asylum procedure in France.

European and international obligations

Unaccompanied minors benefit from the rights enshrined in the UN Convention on the rights of the Child, which France ratified in 1990. Those rights include the right to a special protection and assistance from the State or the right to maintain links with their families. The Convention prevails over national legislation, including immigration law. Unaccompanied minors are indeed children, before being migrants. Their best interest must be a primary consideration in all actions or procedures affecting them.

On the European level, the EU asylum legislation offers specific protection and guarantees a number of rights to unaccompanied minors. The Dublin III Regulation, which establishes the criteria to determine which Member state is responsible for examining an asylum claim, states that the asylum claim of an unaccompanied minor should be examined by the country where a family member resides (art. 8).

The work of France terre d’asile in Calais

France terre d’asile, a non profit organisation established in 1971, carries out various activities in Calais and the region, from information on asylum to the protection of unaccompanied minors.

In 2009, the organisation established an asylum information office, jointly with UNHCR and it currently runs the pre-registration office for asylum seekers in Calais.

In September 2012, in the aim of ensuring that unaccompanied minors present in and around Calais benefit from child protection in France, France terre d’asile opened the Young Refugee House, in the town of St Omer, 40km away from Calais. An outreach team goes daily in the camps in the region to inform the children identified, as well as encourage them to request being placed into the care of the French Children Protection services. The organisation also offers both long term and emergency accommodation and counselling for unaccompanied minors in its centres of St Omer and Arras.

For those young persons who have family in the UK, France terre d’asile also started, since 25 April 2016, in collaboration with the French Ministry of Interior, a pilot project which aims to support family reunion requests.

The organisation is also currently carrying out a Franco-British project on assistance to human trafficking victims and it offers legal assistance to migrants in detention.