50 signatures reached
To: UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd
Support the court case demanding the UK keep it's promise to child refugees (DUBS)
We are looking for the UK Home Office to drop its opposition to bringing unaccompanied child refugees to the UK and in doing so, demand that the government reverse its opposition within the legal challenge lodged by the charity Help Refugees in response the government's failure to implement Section 67 of the 2016 Immigration Act (otherwise known as the "DUBS" Amendment).
Why is this important?
After the government has refused a second vote on the issue in parliament, the charity Help Refugees (represented by Leigh Day solicitors) is taking the Home Office to court over the Government’s failure to make suitable arrangements for relocating and supporting a specific number of child refugees as promised by the scheme currently known as "DUBS" under UK immigration law.
For those who haven't heard about DUBS, it was an amendment made to 2016 law which requires the government to make arrangements ‘as soon as possible’ (after 31 May 2016) to relocate and support a ‘specified number’ of unaccompanied refugee children from Europe.
This scheme was created as a response to the increasing pressure on the UK to help in what has been deemed the worst refugee crisis since World War Two. In February of this year our Home Office abandoned the continuation of DUBS quietly in Parliament, and local governments and charities across the UK have been trying to fight the decision. Help Refugees has now launched a formal legal challenge against the government as part of a last chance effort to protect what is truly a lifeline for unaccompanied/lone children fleeing war and/or conflict to Europe.
Keeping the DUBS scheme is essential because currently there are 28 million children uprooted because of conflict in their own countries
but over 1/9th of the world's refugees right now are in Europe and children make up a third of these numbers (and above 45% in the South East of Europe such as Greece and Macedonia), which make legal channels like DUBS essential for these kids to be able to begin a better life and to not be left to be targeted by traffickers and abusers who focus on Europe's camps.
As the 6th richest country in the world, the UK is denying it's international commitments by reversing yet another safe legal passage for these children. Our local councils have said the UK can take in 4000 more children - meaning we have the capacity, all that's lacking is the willingness of our government to support our capacity to give.
In its stance, the Home Office is targeting without justification children who have absolutely no one else to turn to and whose lives and futures are at significant risk right now. They have lost everything, meanwhile our government stands from a distance and says we have nothing to give.
The Charity Help Refugees and those lawyers standing against the Home Office this week, are doing so because they reject this position. They reject that this is the UK we believe in.
We ask the UK public to support this court case as the last chance to keep this scheme in law. We ask that you sign and spread the word about this case and that you don't let the lives of so many kids be determined behind closed doors.
Let's shame the Home Office for its position, let's stand tall and fight for the right of these children to a better future from conflict.
For those who haven't heard about DUBS, it was an amendment made to 2016 law which requires the government to make arrangements ‘as soon as possible’ (after 31 May 2016) to relocate and support a ‘specified number’ of unaccompanied refugee children from Europe.
This scheme was created as a response to the increasing pressure on the UK to help in what has been deemed the worst refugee crisis since World War Two. In February of this year our Home Office abandoned the continuation of DUBS quietly in Parliament, and local governments and charities across the UK have been trying to fight the decision. Help Refugees has now launched a formal legal challenge against the government as part of a last chance effort to protect what is truly a lifeline for unaccompanied/lone children fleeing war and/or conflict to Europe.
Keeping the DUBS scheme is essential because currently there are 28 million children uprooted because of conflict in their own countries
but over 1/9th of the world's refugees right now are in Europe and children make up a third of these numbers (and above 45% in the South East of Europe such as Greece and Macedonia), which make legal channels like DUBS essential for these kids to be able to begin a better life and to not be left to be targeted by traffickers and abusers who focus on Europe's camps.
As the 6th richest country in the world, the UK is denying it's international commitments by reversing yet another safe legal passage for these children. Our local councils have said the UK can take in 4000 more children - meaning we have the capacity, all that's lacking is the willingness of our government to support our capacity to give.
In its stance, the Home Office is targeting without justification children who have absolutely no one else to turn to and whose lives and futures are at significant risk right now. They have lost everything, meanwhile our government stands from a distance and says we have nothing to give.
The Charity Help Refugees and those lawyers standing against the Home Office this week, are doing so because they reject this position. They reject that this is the UK we believe in.
We ask the UK public to support this court case as the last chance to keep this scheme in law. We ask that you sign and spread the word about this case and that you don't let the lives of so many kids be determined behind closed doors.
Let's shame the Home Office for its position, let's stand tall and fight for the right of these children to a better future from conflict.
