Merton’s Cypriot council leader, Stephen Alambritis, has added his name to a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the subject of refugee children. The letter, also signed by 20 other council leaders, is calling for guaranteed safe legal means for refugee children to come to the UK.
The letter accuses Johnson of ditching his Government’s previous settled obligation to take in asylum-seeking children. The letter goes on to state that Johnson is intent on replacing that obligation with a right for EU nations to “request” the transfer to join relatives in Britain. Alambritis is scathing about the Government’s new course saying that “it would strip children of their rights to family reunion and instead make the process entirely discretionary”.
The letter in full reads:
Dear Prime Minister
We, the Leaders and Mayors of London boroughs, write to ask that you continue to provide the guaranteed safe legal means for refugee children to be given sanctuary in the UK as was set out in both the Dublin III accord and the Dubs scheme.
We ask that you give refugee children the legal certainty they desperately need by supporting cross-party calls to enshrine family reunion in the Immigration Bill.
In December, you told MPs in the House of Commons that, despite the government’s decision to weaken these obligations in Brexit negotiations, your government was still committed to receiving unaccompanied children. As you will know, there are children living in camps and carparks across Europe that desperately hope you will honour this pledge. We add our voice to theirs.
Since that time the government has published its Brexit negotiating text. It’s clear the UK is seeking to ditch its mandatory obligation under the Dublin III agreement to take in asylum-seeking children, replacing it with a right for EU nations to “request” their transfer to join relatives in Britain. That would strip children of their rights to family reunion and instead make the process entirely discretionary.
Charities and lawyers representing families seeking reunion have described the UK’s draft text as a ‘blank cheque to people smugglers’, as in the absence of any guaranteed legal route to the UK, children are more likely to risk their lives by being smuggled.
Local authorities like ours are supporting thousands of children who have endured horrendous journeys in the hands of people smugglers in order to reach the UK, precisely because they are not able to access safe and legal routes. According to research by the charity Safe Passage, an estimated 10,000 children have arrived in the UK on a lorry since 2010.
We remain bitterly disappointed that the government capped the Dubs scheme at 480 places and by its current efforts to row back family reunion rights. This will not stop desperate refugee children travelling to the UK. It will just mean more children risking their lives with smugglers.
Guaranteeing access to safe passage, such as family reunion and the Dubs scheme, will help us, as local authorities, plan and prepare for children’s arrivals. And critically, it will give more children a safe alternative to stepping onto the back of a lorry.
Family reunion under Dublin III, and relocations under the Dubs scheme have enabled hundreds of children, once surviving in desperate conditions, to rebuild their childhoods in the care of local authorities. But now we are facing the prospect of children losing both these vital routes.
We remain committed to our country’s long tradition of welcoming more child refugees and strongly urge your government to ensure the Immigration Bill protects safe and legal routes to sanctuary.
Yours sincerely
Cllr. Stephen Alambritis
Leader of the Council
London Borough of Merton
