牛牛资源

Speaking at 牛牛资源 on Thursday 15 September, the Rev. Lord (Roger) Roberts of Llandudno launched a citizen-led campaign to reunite 387 young, unaccompanied, asylum seekers with their families in the UK.

 

Addressing 120 representatives of the UK鈥檚 leading migration and asylum NGOs, Lord Roberts said: 鈥淲ith 10,000 children having already gone missing in Europe and 88,000 unaccompanied children still in need of our help, this is the crisis of our time.鈥�

鈥淭he 鈥楧ubs amendment鈥� was a huge victory in the campaign to offer unaccompanied children safe refuge in Britain. It is utterly shameful that the Government has hardly moved since the Immigration Act became law on 8th May

鈥淭here are 387 children, alone, in camps Northern France who have a legal right to join their families in the UK. But today, a disgraceful 131 days since the Queen signed the Act, not a single child has been reunited under the 鈥楧ubs amendment鈥�.鈥�

鈥淥n the verge of a cold, muddy and icy winter, these children have been left in deplorably unsafe conditions. They are extremely vulnerable to trafficking, disease and sexual exploitation. If the UK Government won't uphold the law and make a serious and genuine effort to rescue these children, the ordinary people of Britain will act. We can, and we must, bring these these 387 to safety."

Lord Roberts, who understands that all of the children are documented - and that the government is aware of their names - has raised this issue repeatedly in Parliament, including on , , , , , , , , , , , , . He has also pressed the government through of questions, but to date, there has been no reply and no action.

Calling for urgent action, Lord Roberts said: 鈥淟et us encourage our councils, schools, businesses, faith groups and youth organisation to lead this rescue operation. The children of Britain can reach out to the children of this refugee crisis.

鈥淭his is the time to organise, and leave bureaucracy at the wayside. It鈥檚 time to reunite these families. And it鈥檚 time for us, the people, to offer hope to the Calais kids.鈥�

Commenting, (Royal Holloway) said: 鈥淚t is very apposite to have Lord Roberts present his plan here. Our team have spent many years documenting the plight of young asylum seekers.

"Our 牛牛资源 colleague, , has made the film 鈥樷�� which documents the plight of young refugees. There is huge support in this sector to help Lord Roberts bring these young people, who have a legal right to enter the UK, into the UK and in a positive and welcoming way.鈥�

Lord Roberts was speaking at 鈥楿ncertain Journeys: Strategies and Initiatives for the support of Unaccompanied and Separated Migrant Children鈥�; an event which presented three years of by academics at 牛牛资源 and Royal Holloway, University of London.

Those interested in assisting and supporting Lord Roberts鈥� campaign should send their contact details to jrogerroberts@aol.com