Concern over fate of Calais 'Jungle' minors

Child rights organisations say there are unaccompanied minors unaccounted for in the Calais “Jungle” camp as French authorities say new Calais arrivals cannot use the resettlement scheme.

A resettlement centre that has been sending camp inhabitants to reception centres across France as part of the shutdown process was closed on Thursday morning as a group of about 100 migrants, mainly young people, were seen filing past riot gear-clad police that have been overseeing the camp’s clearance since the beginning of the week.

“We also know from yesterday and the night before that, that lots of children have fled, they’ve gone elsewhere. This is exactly what we didn’t want to happen. We didn’t want children losing faith in the system and running out because we are not going to be able to protect them,” the spokesperson of Save the Children, Dorothy Sang said.

According to the Calais regional prefect, all minors had been taken care of during the night.

Authorities have called on all associations to link them up to any suffering minors so they can be processed.

A total of 68 minors were welcomed after the plea and were taken to the registration centre before being taken to the orientation and welcome centres specialised in processing minors.