FACTCHECK: Government's family reunion arguments

The Government has been arguing against putting protections for safe and legal routes for child refugees into UK law. But the arguments they are using just don’t stack up. Take a look at our quick fact check below, and then share this on social media or with your MP to make sure we set the record straight. The Government’s claims which are quoted can be found in a letter sent to MPs.

  • GOVERNMENT CLAIM: Putting protections for refugee family reunion into UK law would “undermined the negotiation now underway with the EU and make it less likely that we secure a reciprocal agreement”.

  • FACTCHECK: There is no basis on which to make this claim. The UK is entirely free to guarantee rights it wishes into UK law, and also negotiate with the EU to build on that ensure an reciprocal arrangement. In fact, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe actually supports attempts to enshrine family reunion in UK law. Furthermore, David Davis MP said on the topic of legal protections for safe routes in the House of Commons on the 30 June 2020, “As a former Brexit Secretary, I see no reasons why we can’t move forward with this amendment”. Also, we do not yet know if the EU will negotiate a replacement with the UK, and we need to ensure child refugee do not lose their rights. If anything, such a step would strengthen the UK’s position.

  • GOVERNMENT CLAIM: The Government “have presented a genuine and sincere offer to the EU on a future reciprocal arrangement for the family reunion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children”.

  • FACTCHECK: We can’t claim to know the Government’s intentions, but our legal team - the experts when it comes to family reunion - have studied it closely and if enacted their proposal would be ‘a blank cheque for people smugglers’ that would ‘be the end of family reunion as we know it.’ It is discretionary, provides no appeal and a whole series of key protections are missing. Child refugees deserve better.

  • GOVERNMENT CLAIM: “We ask that Parliament gives the negotiations time to play out. If an agreement is not possible we come back to the UK’s unilateral position in due course.”

  • FACTCHECK: Child refugees don’t have time. If guarantees aren’t secured soon, well before the end of the transition period in December, then panic could spread. As a charity working on the frontline, we know that people smugglers exploit uncertainty. We saw in Autumn 2019 that the prospect of a no-deal Brexit increased casework enquiries massively. If the EU negotiations don’t make real progress on this very soon, we could have a dangerous level of confusion. There is no reason why we can’t provide some clarity now and secure basic protections for safe and legal routes in UK law.

  • GOVERNMENT CLAIM: “Children in Europe…will continue to be able to apply to join them [family] under the refugee family reunion laws, Part 8 and Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules, which are routes unaffected by our exit from the EU”

  • FACTCHECK: There are some limited provisions for family reunion in the UK’s own domestic Immigration Rules. However, these are so restrictive, that 95% of the people we help wouldn’t be eligible. This is not a serious fail safe option.

  • GOVERNMENT CLAIM: “The UK received more asylum applications from unaccompanied children in 2019 than in any other country in the EU”

  • FACTCHECK: While the numbers being used may technically accurate, this is misleading. This just applications, not the numbers granted asylum. Furthermore, this is an awful argument against preserving safe, legal routes. This is because only a tiny proportion of the children who claim asylum will have travelled to the UK safely and legally. The vast majority would have travelled here dangerously, risking their lives on dinghies or on the back of lorries. And if we do not save safe, legal routes, more may be pushed into hands of people smugglers.

  • GOVERNMENT CLAIM: : “It is crucial we focus our immediate efforts on easing the increasing burden being placed on [local authorities]” with reference to numbers being granted asylum.

  • FACTCHECK. This is disingenuous. Allowing safe, legal routes to asylum to close will not mean that child refugees will not try to claim asylum in the UK. It means it is much more likely that they will see no other option but to risk their lives to travel here in dinghies across the channel. And in fact, local authorities are telling the Government that they have the capacity. 1, 440 more places have been pledged by councils across the country for those currently stuck in Europe if the Government would move to fill them, and just last week 21 Council Leaders in London wrote to the Prime Minister asking him to support legal protections.

  • GOVERNMENT CLAIM: “under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, the Government is now close to hitting its target of resettling 20,000 vulnerable refugees affected by the Syrian civil war”.

  • FACTCHECK: The VPRS is not open to children in Europe. Children stuck in camps on the Greek Islands or Calais have no recourse to be able to claim asylum in the UK apart from family reunion and, until recently, the ‘Dubs scheme’. This is why it is so vital we act to protect those safe, legal routes.

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