France Relocates Refugee Kids From Calais ‘Jungle’
France has begun relocating 1,500 unaccompanied children who were living in a shelter at the demolished “Jungle” camp in Calais.
Tensions were rising at the shelter, made out of disused shipping containers to house the children after last week’s evacuation of the camp. Fighting and protests broke out after authorities announced the relocation.
Officials said the children would be distributed between some 60 reception centers around the country, where their claims for asylum or requests to join family in the U.K. will be assessed.
Refugee advocates fear that dispersing the children will make it harder to bring them to Britain. Reaching the U.K. is the ultimate goal of many Jungle residents.
Advocates are also concerned that children will escape the shelters and try to smuggle themselves to Britain, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.
The France Terre d’Asile charity said around half of the children transferred to shelters in east and west France last week have already disappeared.
U.N. Official Warns E.U. Deportations Could Destabilize Afghanistan
A U.N. human rights official has warned that European plans to deport thousands of Afghan asylum-seekers could destabilize the fragile country.
The E.U. signed a deal with Afghanistan last month to facilitate the deportation of Afghans, the second-largest national group of asylum-seekers in Europe after Syrians.
Chaloka Beyani, U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, warned that Afghanistan is not ready to absorb tens of thousands of failed asylum-seekers.
“Sending them back now clearly adds to instability,” he said. “These people cannot be absorbed into Afghan economic and social life. The government clearly says, ‘Look, we don’t have the capacity.’”
Afghanistan faces a resurgent Taliban and faltering economy. Fighting has already displaced more than 400,000 people this year, while hundreds of thousands of Afghans are returning from Pakistan ahead of a government deadline.
“Today’s [internally displaced persons, IDPs] are tomorrow’s refugees,” Beyani warned. “If their livelihoods are not met, IDPs will move and become refugees. Equally, those who may be returned and don’t go back to their place of origin – if they are not integrated, they will become IDPs.”
Aid Group Urges Protection of Civilians as Iraqi Troops Reach Mosul
As Iraqi troops reached the city of Mosul, aid groups urged forces to protect the lives of the city’s 1 million-plus residents.
Iraq, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, is fighting to recapture the city from the so-called Islamic State militant group. Iraqi soldiers entered the city on November 1, beginning a slow advance that is expected to take weeks or months.
“We are now bracing ourselves for the worst,” Norwegian Refugee Council’s Iraq director Wolfgang Gressmann said in a statement. “The lives of 1.2 million civilians are in grave danger, and the future of all of Iraq is now in the balance.”
Aid agencies have warned that many civilians are trapped and unable to flee the city, and that ISIS may use them as human shields.
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