Fury as shipping containers set aside for seriously ill child migrants

10 March 2024 , 15:57

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Migrants rescued at sea are taken to a reception centre in Dover (Image: Getty Images)

Shipping containers were set aside for seriously ill child migrants, it has emerged.

England's children's commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, described the measure as "truly shocking and completely unsuitable for any child." The isolation units in Kent were earmarked for children with diphtheria, the Sunday Times reports.

These include a shipping container of about two metres by 1.5metres with no windows or toilet, it is reported. It comes after two teenagers were found to have diphtheria, a contagious bacterial condition that requires people to be isolated, in recent months.

After her team inspected the site last week, Dame Rachel said: "The isolation areas we saw on this visit are truly shocking and completely unsuitable for any child and my own research shows more than 10% of those arriving between 2021 and 2023 noted to have particular 'vulnerabilities' were suffering from an infectious illness.

"I have repeatedly warned about the need to invest in more appropriate accommodation for children arriving in this country because, without this, we are in danger of repeating the problems of the past."

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Children are taken for processing at the Western Jet Foil reception centre in Dover before being taken to a holding facility nearby. Here they await placement by Kent County Council.

Sources told the Sunday Times that a shipping container was considered for child migrants, before alternative accommodation was found. The Home Office insists the units were never intended as accommodation. A spokesman said: “The safety and welfare of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is our utmost priority and providing care placements for them is a national issue that requires participation from local authorities across the UK.

“There are isolation facilities at Western Jet Foil used to temporarily place those with suspected communicable diseases until suitable onward accommodation is secured. These have never been proposed, or used, as accommodation for small boat arrivals.

“We are continuing to work with local authorities across the UK, including Kent County Council, to support them to fulfil their statutory duties to accommodate unaccompanied children nationwide.”

Dave Burke