They are called Niazai, Kaseer, Amir, Ibrahim. They are mostly between 11 and 17 years old. While they come from different countries, they all left their home behind to save their lives. They escaped war, dictatorship, exactions.
They spent months on the road and found the strength to reach Calais, alone. They live there in appalling conditions, in the hope of joining their family in the United Kingdom, and risk their life every night to try to cross the Channel.
Each child should be able to join their family in a safe and legal way. Following the rallying of citizens and political figures, the United Kingdom and France took a first step in that direction. But their commitment is still too fragile. It is urgent to make this right effective for all and ensure its implementation in the long term.
For Amir, Niazai, and all the others, let us join forces and create a large public mobilisation on both sides of the Channel.
For Amir, Niazai, and all the others, let us join forces and create a large public mobilisation on both sides of the Channel.
About the campaign:
The photos were taken by photographer Alessandro Clemenza, in Calais.
Because those children demonstrate daily their strength, courage and resilience, France terre d'asile, Alessandro Clemenza and the Antidox Agency chose to represent them as modern heroes and not as victims.
Because those children demonstrate daily their strength, courage and resilience, France terre d'asile, Alessandro Clemenza and the Antidox Agency chose to represent them as modern heroes and not as victims.
About France terre d'asile :
France terre d'asile, a non profit organisation founded in 1971, works for the promotion of human rights and offers accommodation and assistance to asylum seekers, refugees and unaccompanied minors in France. France terre d’asile assists over 10 000 people daily, across the French territory.
The organisation also engages in legal and policy work, conducts information campaigns, and addresses and collaborates with institutions and national and European decision-makers in the area of asylum and migration. France terre d’asile is a member of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and has consultative status with ECOSOC at the UN.
The organisation also engages in legal and policy work, conducts information campaigns, and addresses and collaborates with institutions and national and European decision-makers in the area of asylum and migration. France terre d’asile is a member of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and has consultative status with ECOSOC at the UN.
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WHO ARE THE UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN OF CALAIS ?
In France, an unaccompanied minor, or child (UAC), is a young person below 18 years old who does not hold French nationality and is separated from his/her parents or legal representative on French territory.
Their isolation and young age make them particularly vulnerable. They are for instance at risk of violence or exploitation by criminal networks. In the slums of the Calais region, where young people live together with adults and where camps are run by smugglers, those dangers are heightened.
According to the last census undertaken by France terre d’asile at the beginning of May 2016, the majority of the unaccompanied children of Calais come from Afghanistan, Eritrea and Sudan. They are mostly between 15 and 17 years old, but the youngest is only 10.
Some data
- About 10 000 UACs are present in mainland France
- 343 UACs have been identified in Calais in the beginning of May by France terre d’asile
- 1403 young persons have been hosted at the “Young Refugee House”, run by France terre d’asile, in St Omer, in 2015
- 7/7 days, the staff of France terre d’asile visit the camps of the region of Calais to inform and refer UACs to emergency accommodation
- European and international obligations
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).
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 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 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.
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