The Refugee Rights Data Project has released statistics from their most recent field research, conducted in January 2017 on the streets of Paris, where they found that:
- 96.2% of children were unaccompanied by an adult
- 28.9% of them had previously spent time living in the camps in Calais/Dunkirk
- 51.9% said they wish to go to the UK
- 50% had been asked by police in Paris to move while they were sleeping, and 57.7% described this as a ‘violent’ and ‘scary’ experience
- 44.2% said they were experiencing health problems.
The data forms part of a wider report ‘Life on the Streets’ about refugees and displaced people in Paris where 342 people were interviewed between 18-22 January 2017 (the number of children interviewed is not stated in the research and forms part of the total of 342).
A recent article in the Independent reported that police in Paris have been taking blankets and sleeping bags from refugees sleeping rough and refugees have been subjected to beatings and tear gas.
The Refugee Rights Data Project also conducted research in Calais in February 2016 and found that:
- 59.7% of children living in the Calais camp were unaccompanied
- 44.5% were hoping to be reunited with family in the UK
- 89.6% had been subjected to police violence
- 76.5% had experienced teargas
- 73.9% were experiencing health problems at the time.
In August 2016, 9.77% of minors interviewed in the Calais camp reported having been in the camp for more than one year, living in conditions that are highly unsuitable for children.
City of Sanctuary has endorsed Refugee Council’s statement on the closure of the ‘Dubs amendment’ child relocation scheme.
You can sign this petition asking the government not to close the scheme.