We must respect right to asylum

FRENCH authorities have evicted 8,143 refugees and migrants from the infamous Calais “jungle camp”, which has since been demolished under the watchful eyes of 1,200 police officers.

They lived in unbearably inhumane conditions over the last few years, living in the vain hope they will be granted asylum in Britain because they already have family connections or can speak adequate English. Many have fled Middle Eastern and African countries ravaged by barbaric despots, aided and abetted by Western interventionists.

Countless millions of Syrian refugees are stranded in similar camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. It was recently reported that some refugee children are being exploited in sweatshops, producing goods for Britain – a country which has turned her back on them. And because those 8,143 former inhabitants of the “jungle camp” can’t be deported to Libya (the last country they left before entering Europe), they will instead be resettled in temporary refugee centres across France while their asylum claims are processed.

French officials say 5,600 people have been relocated to reception centres, including 1,500 minors housed in a cramped on-site container camp. Hundreds of unaccompanied children had nowhere to sleep overnight because of avoidable delays in the registration process, and the whereabouts of many are unknown as they are believed to have run away. At the time of writing 234 minors have been resettled in Britain.

Britain was originally asked to take in 500 unaccompanied asylums, but the Tories clearly neither recognise or respect the fundamental human right to asylum. Daniel Pitt Mountain Ash