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Hundreds of Child Migrants Found in Calais Jungle
Other | Monday 22nd February 2016 | Arash
Demolition plans for a jungle in Calais has been suspended after hundreds of children were found living in camps in the jungle.
A census was previously carried out by the French government estimated that the jungle was being inhabited by 1,000 migrants.
However, another census carried out the charity organisation, Help Refugees, counted more than three times that figure, at a total of 3,455, 315 of them were children living on their own.
Government officials delayed the demolition plans due to the findings, but issued an expulsion order to the migrants, demanding them all to leave by 8pm tomorrow.
A judge will also visit the camp in person to assess the situation before a court in Lille starts negotiations on which course of action should be taken.
If they decide to go through with the demolition plans, bulldozers could move in as early as Wednesday, though officials are still struggling to convince people to move out of the camp and the French government has not yet ruled out the possibility of forcefully moving the migrants out of the camps, but consider it a last resort.
Actor Jude Law was also on the scene, speaking out and pressuring the UK government to let child migrants come to Britain.
Officials have given migrants two courses of action in the run-up to the planned demolition; the first being accommodation in a nearby settlement which has been constructed of shipping containers filled with bunk beds.
The second option is relocation to different camps somewhere else in France, but the figures shown by Help Refugees suggest that thousands more migrants will need to be moved than previously expected.
