PROTECT LONE CHILDREN FROM CALAIS CAMP: ALLOW THEM INTO SCOTLAND AND UK

Please read, this is the situation for Afghan and Eritrean refugee children since mid-November: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/16/home-office-block-on-afghan-and-eritrean-teen-refugees-a-disgrace
which leads to this, where vulnerable UNDER-AGE children, taking matters into their own hands, are at terrible risk of exploitation and harm. THEY ARE NOT BEING PROTECTED, as was promised by UK and French Governments once the Calais Camp was cleared:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/29/eritrean-child-asylum-seekers-abandon-french-centre-in-bid-to-reach-uk

Why we need to keep up the pressure on the HOME OFFICE to allow Scotland and rest of UK to give urgent sanctuary and ongoing protection to a large number of unaccompanied children from France:
INDEPENDENT SAT 19TH NOV. Calais refugee children forced to work on fruit farms and share accommodation with adults, charity claims. Safe Passage interviewed boys living in French reception centres which they describe as 'prisons'.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/calais-jungle-refugee-crisis-child-forced-labour-fruit-farms-reception-centre-a7427396.html

Please could you continue to keep this issue alive locally by signing this current petition: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/unaccompanied-minors-welcome-support-for-scotland-s-council-leaders
It will be handed in at COSLA Leader's Meeting in Edinburgh this coming Friday, 25th Nov.

It is vital that we continue to put pressure on the Home Office to allow entry into UK of as many children as possible, and to offer sanctuary to those without family here.
Please circulate this updated petition to a many people as possible.
AND please make contact with your MPs/ MSPs and Local Councillors useful link: https://www.writetothem.com/, and express your concern about the fate of these children.
We need to encourage LOCAL AUTHORITIES to commit to accepting unaccompanied refugee children, following the urgent call from COSLA- Convention of Scottish Local Authorities- to Scottish councils to help rehouse child refugees bound for Scotland from Calais.

9/11 Letter from HOME OFFICE:
We expect to transfer several hundred more unaccompanied refugee children to the UK over the coming weeks. We are prioritising the assessment and transfer to the UK of the youngest children and those minors at a high risk of sexual exploitation, including females. We are also considering those nationalities most likely to qualify for refugee status in the UK. ....There has been intense co-operation between the UK and French authorities to improve ....the implementation of Section 67 of the Immigration Act, including the establishment of a permanent official level contact group and the secondment of a further UK expert to the French Interior Ministry

8/11 http://www.helprefugees.org.uk/
Yesterday we were granted permission by the high court to judicially review Amber Rudd over the Dubs Amendment... also alleges that the Home Secretary’s failure to implement her Dubs duties towards unaccompanied children in Calais – despite her commitments in Parliament to prioritise those children – contributed to the Calais children being exposed to serious human rights violations. [she] was repeatedly warned that unless proper registration and relocation processes were put in place children who would otherwise be safely relocated might go missing. Despite these warnings, the Home Office’s registration of children in the Calais Camp for the purposes of relocating them to the UK only began on 21 October, three days before the eviction and demolition, and after Help Refugees had begun their legal challenge. The first relocations to take place to the UK under s.67 Immigration Act 2016 started on 22 October, two days before demolition.

TODAY'S SHOCKING AND DISTURBING NEWS FROM HELP REFUGEES WEBSITE
MORNING OF 27th
This morning, at least 100 children were waiting in the minors' line to be processed at the registration centre. The centre was closed, and no officials present.
They queued peacefully for hours this morning. They were then told they would not yet be registered and were sent back to outside the container camp, where they are refusing to let them enter without wristbands. Police have now been arresting and forcibly removing children with no explanation or translators. This has happened to children with and without wristbands. Please alert your MP that the home office must do more on the ground protect these children.
LATEST AT 13.30 GMT+1
All residents must be registered by 2pm. Any minors or adults found without wrist bands by that time will be arrested.

LATEST SHOCKING OVERNIGHT REPORT FROM HELP REFUGEES WEBSITE
NIGHT OF 26-27th Last night, dozens of children slept on the cold ground in front of the containers they were supposed to be housed in. Another 40 slept in a school. Volunteers have watched over them, when no one else would. They were not given accommodation because they hadn't been registered. They weren't registered because registration for minors was closed at 1pm yesterday, and hundreds of children were sent back to the Jungle. There were fires all over the camp, and it was unsafe for anyone to enter. Residents, including the minors, spent hours on the outskirts waiting to find out where they would sleep.
The Prefete Fabienne Buccio stated their "mission was accomplished", the Jungle is empty, all children are in state protection. That is a lie. We are terrified that hundreds of children have been forgotten and will not be granted the protection they deserve.

The Candlelit Vigil at east end of Princes St on Tuesday evening brought number of signatures past 100. https://www.facebook.com/edinpeaceandjusticecentre/ https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/9677/edinburgh-child-refugee-vigil-pressures-uk-and-french-action-over-calais-camp
The evolving situation ie imminent destruction of the camp could have dire consequences for vulnerable unaccompanied children in Calais.
Please ask family, friends, colleagues, social media contacts and anyone else sympathetic you can think of to sign.
Also, AS A MATTER OF URGENCY please contact your MP/MSP;
Theresa May : https://email.number10.gov.uk/ and Home Secretary Amber Rudd: [email protected] tel: 02070354848 to express your concern.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tories-warned-the-clock-ticking-9061935

Terrifying news from an Edinburgh petition supporter today Monday 17th: My husband arrived in Calais this morning to help on the first aid caravan. He’s an Edinburgh doctor.
He sent a brief message: “Harrowing. Demolishing has started. They are shutting down the restaurants now."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/15/home-office-in-court-for-failing-calais-refugee-children
These children are at risk of exploitation, sexual abuse and abduction.
The French and UK public have no guarantee exactly when the camp will be demolished.
This process could start as early as tomorrow, Monday 17th, with no advance warning.
Please ask as many of your contacts as possible to sign the petition. To reach 40 signatures is good, but even better 400 and then 4000 + + + to put pressure on UK Government to protect these children, and not have their fate on our consciences.

Children in Calais Jungle to arrive in UK 'in days'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37663125
If this goes ahead as planned, it is excellent news for the children who have family in UK.
HOWEVER we need to renew our efforts to put pressure on Amber Rudd and UK Government to allow the extremely vulnerable LONE children with no family here to be allowed entry. This morning, here in Edinburgh it was damp and overcast, and it was awful to imagine a frightened, unaccompanied child living under canvas at the Calais Camp.