The Clipboard: Revealed: Britain's plan to expel thousands of asylum children

From an article¹:

Thousands of vulnerable child refugees who have fled to Britain on their own will be forcibly sent back to their home countries, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

Senior Home Office civil servants are drafting detailed plans to return unaccompanied young asylum-seekers to countries torn apart by war or ethnic violence from early next year.

The first phase of repatriations - expected to start in April - will focus on sending refugee children back to poverty-stricken countries in the Balkans such as Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia. Kosovo is still highly unstable, and is being policed by 29,000 United Nations peace-keeping troops. Yet Kosovo has been top of the Home Office list for repatriations.

The initiative - which has not yet been publicly disclosed by the Home Office - is causing deep concern to leading children's charities and refugee groups, who say it is unfair and dangerous.

At present, unaccompanied children are almost always given temporary leave to stay in Britain until they turn 18, when their cases are treated as adult applications. (link)

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Complete text of the article, Revealed: Britain's plan to expel thousands of asylum children, by Severin Carrell and Sophie Goodchild

Thousands of vulnerable child refugees who have fled to Britain on their own will be forcibly sent back to their home countries, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

Senior Home Office civil servants are drafting detailed plans to return unaccompanied young asylum-seekers to countries torn apart by war or ethnic violence from early next year.

The first phase of repatriations - expected to start in April - will focus on sending refugee children back to poverty-stricken countries in the Balkans such as Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia. Kosovo is still highly unstable, and is being policed by 29,000 United Nations peace-keeping troops. Yet Kosovo has been top of the Home Office list for repatriations.

The initiative - which has not yet been publicly disclosed by the Home Office - is causing deep concern to leading children's charities and refugee groups, who say it is unfair and dangerous.

At present, unaccompanied children are almost always given temporary leave to stay in Britain until they turn 18, when their cases are treated as adult applications.

Alison Harvey, a senior refugee expert at the Children's Society, said social services in the three Balkans states were close to non-existent and families could be very difficult to trace. "They are children first and foremost," she said. "We can't be sure the Home Office will make the right decision on the child's case for asylum in the first place. How can they guarantee that every child sent home will be safe?"

Senior Labour backbenchers last night also denounced the scheme. Michael Connarty, MP for Falkirk East, said: "It's an outrageous proposal. If they are orphans, then surely we should take them in. We have a fundamental duty to be compassionate."

The latest disclosure will deepen the controversy surrounding plans by the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, to restrict the rights of refugees entering Britain. Last week he announced proposals to strip asylum-seekers of the right to claim state support if they lose their asylum applications, and to take their children into care.

The repatriation proposals could affect thousands of child refugees. The Home Office confirmed last night it plans to extend the scheme to all 24 countries on the "white list" of safe countries, which includes Sri Lanka, Bangla-desh, Serbia and Romania.

Last year, 6,200 unaccompanied children applied for asylum - a 10-fold increase on 1996. Of those, 1,135 were from Kosovo, Albania or Macedonia. Over the past three months, another 80 unaccompanied children from those countries have sought asylum.

The Refugee Children's Consortium, an umbrella group of 17 prominent charities, fears the Home Office is radically hardening its stance on young asylum-seekers.

Officials in the Immigration and Nationality Department are to start interrogating unaccompanied children about their motives for coming to Britain - without a lawyer or guardian present. Until now, asylum children were allowed to submit a written statement to the Home Office prepared by their lawyer.

The Home Office insisted last night it would repatriate children only if they were sure that a child would continue to be safe, and it was in the best interests of the child. "Any decision will only be undertaken after full consideration of the circumstances of each case," a spokeswoman said.

reference=http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=468620