Calais Statement House of Commons


Calais Statement

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Thank you, with permission H would like to make a statement on Calais.

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The French government today began the clearance of the migrant camp. I

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clear this is an national interest of the UK and France. It is the

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start of a challenging but necessary humanitarian operation and `n

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important step in bringing to an end to the difficult situation.

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Priorities are to keep the border secure, to tackle the criminal gangs

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profiting from the lives of the vulnerable and to ensure those in

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the camp in need of protecthon on moves to places of safety. The camp

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clearance supports all thesd objectives. On the 10th of October I

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updated the house having met with my French counterpart. We had discussed

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amongst other things the importance of keeping all children safd during

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the camp clearance. My officials have been working with French

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authorities to ensure this protection is provided. And UK

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personnel are taking an acthve role on the grounds today helping to move

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all children to a place of safety. They will continue to do so for as

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as necessary. That meeting was one of many over the past few months and

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we have made good progress to speed up the process of transferrhng

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children with a close familx in the UK. More than 80 children whth a

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family link here were transferred from France in the first nine months

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of this year under the Dublhn regulation. But I have been pressing

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to go even further and this house will recall on the 10th of October I

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stated my commitment to bring to the UK as many children as posshble with

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close family links before the closure of the camp. I also make

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clear my intention to transfer unaccompanied refugee children from

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Calais who meet the criteri` of the dubs amendments to the immigration

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act 2016. Since my statement, working with the French, we have

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transferred almost 200 children including more than 60 girls, many

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of whom had been identified as at risk of sexual exploitation, they

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are receiving the care and support they need in the UK. I want to make

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clear to this house governmdnt has sought every opportunity to expedite

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the process to transfer children the UK. My officials were only given

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access to the camp to interview children in the last week and

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similarly we have only recently received agreement from the French

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government that we could brhng cases to the UK. For this, we worked

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closely with the French behind-the-scenes but withott their

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agreement was impossible to make progress on taking normal f`mily

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cases from Calais. In the l`st seven days my officials have interviewed

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800 children claiming to have close family in the UK, working in

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conjunction with NGOs in ch`rities. Every child presented in last week

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has been interviewed by UK staff, much of the work has been c`rried

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out in difficult conditions. On a number of occasions intervidws have

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been paused and UK staff have withdrawn for safety reasons. I

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thank the French authorities for the additional protection they provided

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throughout and to put on record my gratitude for work done by ly staff

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in what has been challenging conditions. Until a few weeks you,

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the French government requested we did not transfer children ottside of

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the Dublin regulation process. This was due to their concerns this may

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encourage more children to come to Calais. That is why a until recently

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we focused efforts to children in Greece and Italy where we h`ve 0

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cases in progress. Looking `head, we will bring more children from Calais

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to the UK in the coming days and weeks. As well as the remaining

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children with close family hn the UK, we will continue to transfer

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unaccompanied refugee children from Calais under the wider critdria of

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the dubs amendments. We will follow three guiding principles in

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determining who we bring to the UK from Calais and the dubs amdndment.

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We will prioritise those likely to be granted refugee status in the UK,

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we will also prioritise those 12-year-olds or under and wd will

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consider those assessed as being at high risk of sexual exploit`tion. In

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doing this we establish whether it is in each child's best intdrests to

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come here. But through this process, it is important we do not encourage

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more children to head to Calais Risking their lives in the hands of

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traffickers. That is why we will only consider those present at the

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camps before the start of clearances today. We will continue to do this

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quickly but it is essential we carry out the proper safeguarding, age

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assessment and security checks working closely with local

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authorities and social workdrs in the UK to ensure the childrdn are

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eligible and it is in their best interests to come. I'm pleased to

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say my French counterpart h`s agreed to support miners in safe f`cilities

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in France during the weeks we need to carry out these important checks.

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It is important on arrival `nd identities of the children `re not

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compromised and they are allowed to begin their life here with the

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support they need. It is crtcial we ensure local authorities ard able to

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manage the numbers coming hdre as part of our commitments unddr the

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amendment we have consulted with local authorities on capacity. It is

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clear there is capacity to support children from Calais as well as

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meeting our other commitments. The key now is to make sure we get these

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places up and running as soon as possible. I would pay tribute to the

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work and generosity of local authorities so far in providing both

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the temporary and permanent support the children arriving here require.

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However, as more children arrived, we will need to identify further

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places and we will work with local authorities over the coming days.

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