:00:27. > :00:33.Can have come everybody to this afternoon's session on the situation
:00:34. > :00:36.for unaccompanied can have come everybody to this afternoon's
:00:37. > :00:40.session on the situation for unaccompanied in Europe and the
:00:41. > :00:44.Governmentthank you very much for coming to give evidence for us this
:00:45. > :00:50.afternoon to close the Dubs scheme. Thank you very much for coming to
:00:51. > :00:56.give evidence for us this can I ask you to just start by each
:00:57. > :01:03.introducing yourselves and also moment for the position for what
:01:04. > :01:03.assessment of the organisations is your assessment
:01:04. > :01:10.at the moment for the position for you think's decision to close the
:01:11. > :01:18.Dubs scheme and also in France the ending of the fast-track Dublin
:01:19. > :01:22.scheme as well. I'm the deputy executive director for Unicef UK. I
:01:23. > :01:28.have colleagues working in Greece, Italy, across Europe and on the
:01:29. > :01:30.ground of course in the region who are currently meeting the
:01:31. > :01:33.humanitarian needs of many unaccompanied children. When the
:01:34. > :01:36.Dubs scheme was announced it was clearly about targeting the most
:01:37. > :01:40.vulnerable children and we thought that was absolutely the right thing
:01:41. > :01:44.to do. We were, as you would imagine at Unicef, targeting the most
:01:45. > :01:47.vulnerable unaccompanied children, many of whom have been trafficked,
:01:48. > :01:51.exploited and abused and are in great need of protection, and you
:01:52. > :01:55.will have heard all of their horrifying stories about these
:01:56. > :02:03.children when there is not a route going missing and sometimes falling
:02:04. > :02:05.into the hands of traffickers, smugglers or others who would
:02:06. > :02:08.exploit them. We did see what a scheme like this can achieve when an
:02:09. > :02:11.expedited process began in Calais and we were heightened by the speed
:02:12. > :02:16.with which that finally happened after much delay. It makes very
:02:17. > :02:20.little sense to us that this scheme would be cancelled now when we know
:02:21. > :02:24.there are still 2500 unaccompanied children in Greece, ten times as
:02:25. > :02:28.many in Italy and many others across Europe, and many of those are
:02:29. > :02:32.outside of the formal system. We know there is a formal system in
:02:33. > :02:39.Italy and Greece but it is overwhelmed, it cannot protect the
:02:40. > :02:42.children they currently have there and we think the UK has a very
:02:43. > :02:43.important role to play in assisting those other Government in making the
:02:44. > :02:51.scheme work. Subtitles will resume
:02:52. > :03:02.on 'The Week In Parliament' at 2300.