Families Belong Together: Schoolchildren hand in 75,000 strong petition
Families Belong Together: Schoolchildren hand in 75,000 strong petition
Children, refugees and activists delivered a petition to the Home Office calling for an end to unfair rules keeping refugee families apart.
The Families Together coalition, which organised the petition, campaigns for the rights of refugee families. Under current rules, refugee children are unable to sponsor even their closest family to live with them in the UK; and elderly parents and children who are 18 or over cannot join their families here.
These rules cause unnecessary suffering and add to the trauma refugees face as they try to integrate into an unfamiliar environment without the emotional support and stabilising presence of close family.
During the action, campaigners, school children from Oaklands Secondary School in London’s Bethnal Green and refugees, held up large, multi-coloured letters spelling out ‘FAMILIES BELONG TOGETHER’ before making their way to the Home Office to hand in a 75,000-strong petition.
Current UK law allows adult refugees to sponsor their immediate family members to join them. Child refugees, however, are deprived of this right. The UK is one of only a few countries in Europe to prevent child refugees from sponsoring their family members to join them.
Last month, following amendments to the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill, the Government said: "protecting vulnerable children will remain our priority after Brexit”. The Families Together coalition is calling on the Government to ensure reuniting child refugees in the UK with their families is included in this priority.
"All children need their parents, and child refugees are no different,” said UNHCR's Laura Padoan, “War can have a devastating impact on families, separating people from their loved ones. That's why we need systems that work across borders to help bring families together again.
"The backing we've had for the campaign from the public and across political parties shows that there is support to make the refugee family reunion rules fairer," she added.
Kerry Moscogiuri, Director of Campaigns at Amnesty International UK, said: “The new Government has stated that protecting vulnerable children remains their priority after Brexit – we urge them to make good on this promise to prevent any more needless suffering, for child refugees in the UK.
“Today, school students from Bethnal Green took a stand for refugee children in the UK by sending a clear message to the Government that no child should be blocked from seeing their parents and siblings.”