Calais child migrants hope for new life outside 'Jungle' camp
As hopeful youths patiently wait to board a bus out of Calais, charities vow to keep up the pressure to bring them to safety.
Wednesday 2 November 2016 14:56, UK
They speak many different languages and are of a variety of religions and none, but today the young migrants of the Calais "Jungle" camp are united by the hope of a new life, in a new country, safe forever.
There was drum playing and chanting, beaming smiles from once sad faces and impromptu kick abouts as the youths good-humouredly waited their turn to get in a coach to one of the 60 juvenile asylum centres across France where their claims will be processed.
The move has been widely welcomed by aid groups, though Annie Gavrilescu from Help Refugees said it has taken too long to happen and that vulnerable children shouldn't have been left in the "Jungle" all this time.
"We have been waiting for this moment for a very long time", she said.
"All we wanted was the children to be out of the camp and out of danger before the eviction," she added.
"We are very glad to see it now but it should have happened before."
:: Calais refugee children moved out of migrant camp
Among the sea of smiles, there was some concern both from children registered to be taken to safety and others who so far have not been processed - and therefore will have to continue to take their chances sleeping rough in Calais as they attempt to get to England illegally.
Those registered are worried they will not get their dream of living in the UK because they have no relatives there and will instead have to stay in France.
"I don't have family in UK. I don't like to stay in this country. I stay in the Jungle four months and 12 days. Every day I try but it's very difficult," said Carlos, a 16-year-old who fled has fled from Darfur in Sudan.
"They are saying, 'You are young, we can help you'. But they are not helping me."
For three Afghan boys we met, scruffy and forlorn outside the registration compound and thus barred from a bus ride to safety, there was a feeling of confusion and hopelessness as aid workers tried belatedly to get them accepted into the bureaucracy.
After many dismal days during the months they have spent in the "Jungle", getting on the coaches was undoubtedly a good one for the children.
But Laura Griffiths, from charity Safe Passage UK, warned governments on both sides of the Channel this was simply the beginning of the process, and that just getting them to a place of safety is not the same as reuniting them with their family - in the UK or elsewhere in Europe.
"We need to continue the rescue as quickly as possible," she said, as she watched the coaches leave.
"The fear is that they'll go to these accommodation centres and they won't be brought to safety quickly, they may run away from these centres, when they actually have a family member in the UK waiting to take care of them."