Afghan kid vagrant rejoined with his sibling following 10 years

Aemal Khan tells  News about the nights he cried and missed his family while living in the notorious 'Jungle' camp.

A 14-year-boy among the first child migrants to arrive in Britain from Calais has told  News about the struggles he faced living there.

Aemal Khan arrived on Monday where he was reunited with his older brother Asif who he had not seen in a decade.
"It was a great moment, when I saw him after a long time, more than 10 years," said Asif, a 25-year-old chef who has been living in the UK for 11 years.

"When I met him I hugged him and kissed him, he was so small when I saw him before. He's changed a lot, but brothers, if you see him after 20 years you can recognise."

Eight months ago Aemal fled Afghanistan and followed his brother to the UK - it was a journey he made alone.

:: Court rejects request to delay 'Jungle' migrant camp demolition in Calais

He has spent the past five months stranded in Calais' 'Jungle' migrant camp, despite having a right of residence with family in Britain.

During an emotional interview, he said: "Sometimes I missed mum, sometimes I cried as I was not with my family; no parents. I missed my mum."

It was a drawn-out process to get him to Britain, but fortunately his brother had documentation to support his story.

Aemal was one of 14 unaccompanied youngsters the Home Office bussed-in to Croydon. His only belongings were the clothes he wore.

However, his reunion with his brother will be short-lived as authorities plan to put him into foster care. For now, he has a simple wish - to go to school and get an education.

The Government says it will resettle 3,000 refugee children but with such slow action and the camp due to be dismantled within weeks, the future for many youngsters still stuck there is uncertain.

Officials from the Home Office are spending the coming week at the camp in Calais, attempting to identify further unaccompanied minors who are eligible to come to the UK.

The French authorities were due to begin dismantling the settlement this week but have delayed the process, partly to allow for the UK to identify youngsters eligible to come here.  

Under EU legislation, known as the Dublin Regulation, any asylum seeker who is under 18, unaccompanied and who has a parent, sibling or grandparent in the UK is entitled to be reunited with their family.

Under separate UK legislation known as the Dubbs Amendment, the British Government has also pledged to take in some unaccompanied minors who do not have relations in the UK.

The challenge for Home Office officials now is to identity those eligible - a process fraught with complications. Most of the minors are not young children but teenagers - 15, 16 and 17-year-olds, many without passports or other forms of ID.

Proving their age, that they are travelling alone and the existence of relatives in the UK is extremely hard.