Documents handed under freedom of information (FOI) laws reveal that over 350 lone children were detained in UK-run detention facilities in northern France for a 21-month period, as the UK Home Office admitted failure to keep data on how many trained staff looked after the children in four short-term holding facilities near Calais and Dunkirk in 2022 and 2023.

The holding facilities – Coquelles freight, Coquelles tourist, Calais tourist, and Dunkirk – are meant to hold illegal travelers and those suspected of not having appropriate paperwork for no longer than 24 hours.

They constitute part of the UK’s border controls and are labeled by the Detention Forum, an NGO network, as “legal and procedural grey zones” with “a lack of clarity, transparency and, potentially, adherence to domestic and international human rights obligations”.

Many charities and NGOs voice concern regarding the numbers of detained children, as many show signs of trauma after harrowing journeys through people smugglers, calling it “alarming” and “hugely concerning”.

An FOI request reveals that a total of 13,418 people were detained between January 2022 and October 2023, which include 369 unaccompanied children and these numbers are not included in the government’s annual figures.

In light of that, the Home Office claimed it has no information regarding the number of safeguarding referrals that Border Force made to UK authorities for detainees.

It is a requirement for authorities to make safeguarding referrals as part of the National Referral Framework, introduced in 2009 to identify victims of slavery and trafficking and make sure they receive adequate support.

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An executive director at the Refugee Council, Imran Hussain, stated: “It’s alarming to know that children who may have fled war and persecution and are on their own are being locked up in UK-run facilities in a legally grey area. Most people in the UK would be appalled by the idea that children are treated this way.”

Rules were just for show

Wanda Wyporska, the chief executive of Safe Passage International, said: “Given the traumas these children have fled and the long, arduous journeys they will have made alone to reach safety or family, we know there will be considerable safeguarding needs. It’s hugely concerning that so many children are being quietly detained – frightened and alone – in these overseas facilities by the UK government.”

It was also revealed that the Home Office has no information on how many Border Force officers are trained in safeguarding and modern slavery (Sams) at each of the facilities.

With that being said, a 2020 Home Office action plan states that “all unaccompanied and accompanied children … are interviewed by a Sams-trained officer”, but in it, it also claimed to “collate a range of safeguarding data” committed to conducting a “review of how this data is collated in juxtaposed ports” to “assure accuracy”.

The contractor, Mitie, that partly runs the facilities shows according to figures that its officers completed 303 vulnerable adult warning forms for at-risk detainees in the 2022-23 period but the Home Office does not have that information so it remains unclear if these detainees received appropriate support.

It is also worth mentioning that there exist up to 15 instances of force at the hands of detention custody officers against detainees per released documents, and in each one, force was said to have been used because of detainees were “disruptive” or “violent”.

Back in 2019, the chief inspector of prisons inspected the four sites and found “serious concerns” in the way they operated as Border Force frequently detained people without completing the necessary paperwork to authorize detention and access to legal advice and interpreting services was limited with no on-site medical services either. 

A Home Office spokesperson claimed: “Anyone detained at the border is held for the shortest time possible, and we prioritize processing children and vulnerable people as quickly as possible."

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“Individuals in detention are held in safe and decent conditions, and there are established procedures in place in every facility to monitor people’s welfare and safeguarding needs. These facilities are subject to inspection by the HM chief inspector of prisons, accompanied by their French counterpart, to ensure they are of the highest standards,” the spokesperson added.