Lives will be put in danger when bulldozers demolish The Jungle refugee camp at Calais on Monday 17 October – and UNISON is calling on members to take action to oppose this
Almost 1,000 children without parents or carers in the camp are at a particular risk: some 129 went missing when the camp was last bullldozed, in March.
That is why UNISON and the TUC are calling on members to:
- sign an online petition to Home Secretary Amber Rudd opposing the demolition;
- donate money and badly needed goods through the Care4Calais charity.
The charity says round 400 of the children either have family members in the UK or are entitled to come here as part of the Dubs’ Amendment to the Immigration Act. This instructs the government to work with local authorities to accept unaccompanied child refugees.
But campaigners say government is reneging on its promise to take more children and is ignoring its legal obligation to accept them.
UNISON wants the UK government to take the children with family ties and work with the French authorities to process those there, before the demolition takes place.
UNISON is also joining calls to halt the demolition until all the people there are processed.
Last time the camp was demolished, it did not deter refugees: six months later the camp was bigger than it had ever been.
