Shameful neglect of child refugees | Letters

For decades, Britain has given a safe haven to persecuted people. Now it refuses to take in the world’s most vulnerable

Mark Townsend draws attention to the shockingly low numbers of unaccompanied child refugees accepted into the UK by the Home Office (“Just 20 lone child refugees given a new home in UK”, News). In 2016, I spent two periods of two weeks working in a medical capacity in the Calais “jungle”. Ahmed, aged 12, came to see me with minor injuries sustained from falling off the back of a truck in an attempt to cross the Channel. “Why did you leave Afghanistan?” I asked. Through an interpreter he replied: “My father came to Calais five years ago and managed to get on a truck to Dover. He worked in London for four years, then the police caught him and deported him. On arrival in Kabul he was shot by the Taliban. My uncle said it wasn’t safe for me to remain in Afghanistan. He sold some land and gave the money to some men at the border with Iran to bring me to Calais.”

“How long did it take to get here?” “Three months.” “Which countries did you pass through?” “I don’t know.” “How long have you been here?” “Nine months.” “How many times have you tried to get to the UK?” “About nine times a week.”

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Pm7G28