Jude Law highlights plight of unaccompanied children in Calais’ ‘Jungle’

Jude Law has called for the British Government to allow children living in the Calais “Jungle” migrant camp to come to the UK if they already have relatives living here.

The 43-year-old actor called for the demolition of the southern part of the camp to be delayed until children are granted protection by French or British authorities.

The charity Help Refugees estimate there to be 445 children – 315 alone without their parents – living at the soon-to-be-demolished Calais camp which faces imminent eviction.

The Talented Mr. Ripley actor spoke candidly about the “dangerous” living conditions of the camp at a performance at the actual site on Sunday.

“No adult should be living here. Let alone kids. It’s dangerous. These are children living with adults they don’t know risking lives to try and cross to the UK and they need looking after”.

When asked what he believes the British and French government should do, Law explained they had three demands.

“The most important is to cessate the demolition because it buys everyone time.

“The second thing is to recognise the Dublin three, which means the children who have guardians in the UK are allowed to be reunited with those guardians. I mean I think they should be fast tracked.

“The other issue is that those who don’t have guardians in the UK should be fast tracked into the French asylum system, but get them out of the camp”.

Law took part in a performance with other British performers and migrants, including a 15-year-old Sudanese boy who escaped Darfur’s war zone, which involved reading out noteworthy historical and literary letters.

The south London-born actor has also been at the forefront of anopen letter to David Cameron which asks the government to allow children from the Calais camp who have relatives in Britain to be reunited with their families.

The letter included 100,000 signatures and was signed by Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Idris Elba, Gillian Anderson, Helena Bonham Carter, Ai Weiwei, Meryl Streep and more.

The letter calls on the British government to intervene “as a matter of urgency” in the situation in Calais.

“This is a humanitarian crisis that needs to be acknowledged as such, and it is imperative that we do everything we can to help these innocent and highly vulnerable refugees, especially the minors, as swiftly as is humanly possible,” it read.

The camp in the French port of Calais was due to be forcibly evicted on Tuesday at 8pm and bulldozed the following day but the eviction has been put on hold for the moment.

French courts chose to postpone the eviction after a census carried out by Help Refugees discovered that a great deal more refugees were living in the part of the camp allocated for demolition than the French authorities had initially predicted. A judge will visit the camp on Tuesday to re-evaluate the situation and the case will be heard later in the day.

Up to 6,000 migrants – most of whom are from the Middle East and Africa – live in squalor in the so-called “Jungle” shanty-town.