Left on Paris streets, migrant children plea for shelter during winter

Nearly 350 unaccompanied minors have set up tents outside of France's highest court, to demand from the government permanent accommodation during winter.

The migrant children, mostly coming from West Africa and Afghanistan, have been camping out in front of the Council of State since Friday to call attention to their plight. 

Several humanitarian organisations are assisting the migrant children, who on average are only 15 years old.

They are demanding that authorities provide them with permanent accommodation in the French capital, where the temperature had dropped to almost zero degrees Celsius in recent days.

Rosalie, a member of TIMMY, a nongovernmental organisation that helps unaccompanied migrant children, said that they hope the authorities would recognise the minors' rights and that the ASE, the government's child protection and welfare services, would help them.

Refusing to reveal her last name, Rosalie said that it could take months to certify the displaced children as underaged and they are left struggling on the street during the process.

The camp, which was located in another zone, has been moved to an area between the Council of State and the Louvre Museum, according to Rosalie, as the children try to get the government's attention.

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She is asking the authorities to relocate the children to a safer place immediately. She said that it sometimes gets freezing cold at night.

In recent weeks, there have been at least 10 children treated for hypothermia.

'Left on the streets'

Upon their arrival in France, unaccompanied migrant children are interviewed to verify their age.

Those who are treated as adults cannot benefit from shelter, education, or social rights like other children.

Children willing to prove they are not of legal age can apply to the juvenile court.

If a court decides in their favour, unaccompanied migrant children are supervised by ASE and are granted the right to accommodation for children.

However, unaccompanied migrant children are mostly left on the streets, in legal uncertainty, during this process, leaving them even more vulnerable to exploitation.

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