New migration rules represent a “sustained attack on children’s rights”, say children’s charities, social workers, lawyers and migrants’ rights groups.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, nearly 150 children’s charities and organisations working with children, including the National Youth Advocacy Service, warn recently announced Home Office proposals would put hundreds of thousands of children, as well as young adults leaving care, at risk.
They highlight ‘earned settlement’ proposals, which they say could trap as many as 90,000 children already living in the UK in poverty and keep children in prolonged limbo; as well as moves to make refugee status temporary; and make it easier to withdraw financial support from families and young people leaving care who’ve been refused asylum.
The groups condemned new ‘use of force’ plans, currently under consultation, which pave the way for children to be handcuffed or physically handled onto removal flights, including in instances of “a parent refusing to release a child’s hand” as "abhorrent".
A total of 148 organisations - including the British Association of Social Workers; Children’s Rights Alliance for England; Together - Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights; The Fostering Network and anti-trafficking organisation ECPAT UK, as well as refugee and migrant groups including Freedom From Torture, City of Sanctuary and Safe Passage International - signed the letter, saying: “We are deeply concerned that proposed radical overhauls of the immigration system and routes to settlement, as well as drastic changes to the asylum system, family returns and asylum support provision, will threaten the safety and security of hundreds of thousands of children in the UK.”
They also criticise as “reprehensible” recent suggestions in Home Office policy documents that migrant parents may be “exploit[ing] the fact that they have had children” or seeking a “personal benefit” from migrating irregularly with children.
The letter concludes: “We urge you to change course, and create policy that reflects simple facts we all know to be true. Children who grow up here belong here. Children need stability and certainty to thrive. Care leavers deserve love, special care and a clear path to a future. And we must do everything in our power to prevent children from experiencing homelessness, distress and trauma.”
Rita Waters, Group CEO, National Youth Advocacy Service said: “To us there can be no justification for threatening or treating a child forcefully, denying them their family rights, or withdrawing their rights as care leavers, just because their life journey may be different to others. Either we are a country that treats every child as equally special and deserving of our protection, or we become a place where government officials can wrestle and handcuff a child who can't bring themselves to let go of their parent's hand as they are being pulled apart. This is not the kind of country we want the UK to become and at NYAS we will never stop seeking to protect the rights of the child and ensure their voices are heard loud and clear."
Kamena Dorling, co-chair of the Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium, said: “The proposed changes to asylum, removals and settlement raise profound questions about children’s rights and welfare and risk undermining the Government's ambitions for the next generation. Every child deserves to grow up safe and secure, knowing they have a stable home, a community to belong in, and a stable path through education. No child should be facing poverty, homelessness, constant uncertainty about their future, or the terrifying prospect of being handcuffed or physically dragged onto a removal flight. The Government must undertake and publish a Child Rights Impact Assessment as soon as possible to ensure any changes to migration policy do not put the rights and welfare of any children at risk."
The full text of the letter and signatory list can be viewed here.
