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Executive Summary for September 22nd

We review the latest issues related to refugees, including France’s evacuation of a migrant camp near Dunkirk, Lebanon’s reaction to Trump’s speech at the U.N. and delays in a U.K. scheme to take in unaccompanied children.

Published on Sep. 22, 2017 Read time Approx. 2 minutes

France Evacuates Makeshift Camps Near Dunkirk

French police evacuated around 550 people from a makeshift migrant camp near Dunkirk in northern France.

At least 60 children were among those removed from the camp in the woods in the Grande-Synthe region. Many of them are from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. People had gathered there after an official camp in the area burned down.

Around 85 Eritreans were evacuated from another nearby camp earlier this week.

The official refugee camp in Grande-Synthe was destroyed in a fire in April. The mayor has requested a new site, but French interior minister Gerard Collomb has refused, saying it would attract migrants trying to reach Britain.

Politicians in Lebanon Don’t Like Trump’s Message on Refugees

Lebanese politicians were riled by Donald Trump’s speech at the U.N. General Assembly, which emphasized helping countries like Lebanon host refugees rather than resettling them in nations like the U.S.

In Beirut, political leaders were emphatic that Lebanon would never resettle or naturalize refugees in the country, including Syrians and Palestinians.

“Resettling refugees in Lebanon is not an option, and the United States knows this,” Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri said.

“The speeches we heard at the U.N. are political stances and not obligatory for us, and no international decision was made in this regards,” he said.

Children Wait for More Than a Year to Come to U.K. Under Dubs Scheme

Some 60 children who were identified as provisionally eligible to come to the U.K. under the Dubs scheme a year ago are still waiting in Greece, the Guardian reports.

At the urging of Labour peer Alf Dubs, who came to the U.K. as a child refugee, Britain agreed to take in vulnerable unaccompanied children last year, but only 200 have arrived to date. The government later agreed to take another 280 children.

“I think it is absolutely disgraceful nothing has happened,” Dubs said. “I’m both delighted for the sake of the small number of children that have come and who have found safety, but I’m bitterly disappointed that, given the political commitment to help, that the government is now seeking to back off.”

There are an estimated 2,400 unaccompanied refugee children in Greece.

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