Fourteen unaccompanied refugee children from the 'Jungle' camp in Calais will be greeted by religious leaders as they become among the first to arrive in the UK this morning under a Home Office scheme.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is one of a number of religious leaders to be waiting in Croydon for them to arrive.
At church in Croydon awaiting the children from Calais. With Rowan Williams. Much excitement here.
— Giles Fraser (@giles_fraser) October 17, 2016
At morning prayer. Awaiting Calais children. Listening to reading "Rachel weeping for her children" pic.twitter.com/wGXybXHAVt
— Giles Fraser (@giles_fraser) October 17, 2016
In total, around 100 children are expected to be relocated to the UK this week, after home secretary Amber Rudd last week announced as many as possible would be transferred before the Calais camp is bulldozed by French authorities.
All of the children to move this week are eligible to live in the UK because they have family already here.
According to The Guardian, five children – four from Syrian, and one from Afghanistan – arrived in Britain over the weekend.
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The Red Cross has identified at least 178 children living in the Jungle as eligible to live in Britain due to having close relatives in the UK.
Hundreds more are eligible under the Dubs amendment – an amendment to the Immigration Bill tabled by Labour peer Lord Alf Dubs, under which unaccompanied refugee minors in Europe can legally be relocated to the UK.
There are more than 1,000 unaccompanied children currently living in the 'Jungle', where there are serious threats of sexual violence, abuse, and trafficking.
Lord Williams was among a number of senior religious leaders to urge Prime Minister Theresa May last week to welcome close to 400 eligible children to Britain.
An open letter told May the camp in Calais is a "stain on the conscience of both France and Britain".
Children as young as eight "have fled conflict and persecution [and] are now stuck in northern France, deeply traumatised and at great risk, as well-documented by the anti-slavery commissioner you yourself appointed while home secretary", the letter read.
"In haste to clear it, the need to protect children is even more paramount," it continued.
"During the last such demolition, the charity Help Refugees documented that 129 children went missing. The time to act is now."
Lord Williams was joined by the Muslim Council of Britain general secretary Harun Rashid Khan and Laura Janner-Klausner, the senior rabbi to the Movement of Reform Judaism.
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