Two years on from the Calais Jungle’s closure, many child refugees are still in danger

The Home Office has granted a former child resident of the Calais Jungle the right to join his aunt in the UK – more than two years on from the closure of the camp.

The Eritrean orphan’s application for a legal route to Britain was unlawfully rejected by the department after the French site was demolished in 2016. He was left languishing in a country where he had no one to care for him. Only when his case got media attention did the UK government act.

His case may now be resolved, but he is not the only one.

French and British ministers claimed the hundreds of unaccompanied minors who were living in the Jungle would be safer and better looked after once it closed – but this was far from the truth.

Some fled the site as soon as the bulldozers appeared, falling under the radar and into the hands of traffickers.

Others put their trust in the authorities and were dispersed to makeshift accommodation centres in far-flung parts of France, then left waiting for months on end for decisions on their cases.

Some, like the youngster mentioned above, were wrongly rejected for entry by the Home Office despite having the right to come to the UK. Many of them gave up on waiting and instead embarked on the dangerous journey alone.

The authorities made little attempt to keep tabs on these children after tearing down the Jungle which – for all its flaws – had become the closest thing to home for so many of them.

Through speaking to small charities and former volunteers, The Independent knows that several of the Jungle children are now living on the streets of Calais, along with many more minors who have arrived in the two years since the camp was destroyed.

Others have made it to the UK via unauthorised routes – often through smugglers – and are now trapped in debt bondage and subsequent labour exploitation.

A surge in unauthorised Channel crossings recently gripped the media, serving as a stark reminder that the migrant crisis in northern France hasn’t gone away.

While politicians and the public continue to debate how the issue should be dealt with, let’s remember that among those risking their lives to cross the water to Britain – be it in small dinghies or freight lorries – are lone children who, two years after the Jungle’s closure, are still living in peril.