Many unaccompanied child refugees find themselves in Ventimiglia on their journeys through Europe. Without accommodation, many are forced to sleep rough or in an accommodation centre for adults. 

We’re proud to announce that it is going to provide legal assistance within the centre and ensure that minors eligible for family reunification are aware of their rights to join their relatives in the UK.

“riot police routinely use pepper spray on child and adult migrants while they are sleeping or in other circumstances in which they pose no threat; regularly spray or confiscate sleeping bags, blankets, and clothing; and sometimes use pepper spray on migrants’ food and water.”

Children should not be required to live in these awful conditions at the hands of people smugglers; I hope for Daniel, this will soon be a distant memory.

I have turned 18 and I’ve just been given the right to remain here in this country. Thanks to Safe Passage’s help I can finally call the UK home.

It is estimated that over 200 child refugees are living rough in Calais. Due to the lack of child protection laws in France, these children are living on the streets or in the woods, without a tent.

Today as Europe faces the greatest refugee crisis since that war, we urge you to reflect on our nation’s proud history and ensure we live up to the standard set by generations past.

The report found that police violence has taught refugee children to fear the same authorities who should be protecting them, leaving the way open for smugglers and those who want to exploit the children, including traffickers.

Mohammed died in Oxfordshire in April 2015 when the lorry he had stowed away in ran him over. Having travelled from Iraq, the Kurdish teenager spent three months in the camps in Dunkirk before eventually smuggling himself to the UK under the wheel arches of the lorry. He was trying to reach his uncle, Shamal Silah in Manchester.