Guernsey Press

Labour peer to renew calls for islands to take refugees

LABOUR peer Lord Alf Dubs is expected to renew his call for the Crown Dependencies to welcome child refugees when he visits later this month.

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Lord Alf Dubs is speaking in Jersey on Thursday.

Himself a former child refugee, Lord Dubs has previously called on Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man to share the UK’s responsibility in providing homes for unaccompanied children.

He will be speaking at a free public event at Hautlieu School in Jersey on Thursday.

‘I think the whole of the UK could do there bit, and we are talking about the Channel Islands taking just a handful of children,’ he said.

‘Some of these are children have fled the Taliban, warzones, seen some horrendous sights, and watched their families die.

‘They are in desperately awful circumstances and are unsafe where they are.

‘At the camp in Greece’s island of Lesbos, people are at risk of serious violence. These camps seem safe during the day but at night children are at risk to severe sexual harassment.

‘Right now, there are children in situations so appalling they are attempting suicide.

‘One child taken from that environment is one child who is given the chance of a normal life. I know first hand what difference this can make.’

Lord Dubs fled his native Prague to travel to London at the age of six in March 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.

He became MP for Battersea in 1979 and went on to lead the UK Government’s refugee council from 1988 to 1995.

‘During the Second World War the UK took 10,000 refugee children in one year, we are asking them to do the same over 10 years, that is 1,000 children a year, I think that is do-able,’ he said.

‘In the spirit of international co-operation, I am hoping that islanders will agree that the community is ready to help.

‘The Island could set a leading example, doing its bit for these incredibly vulnerable children and giving them a chance to rebuild their childhood.’

Lord Dubs will be speaking alongside representatives from the charity Safe Passage UK.

Laura Ridley, chairman of charity Jersey Callais Refugee Aid Group, said: ‘JCRAG fully believes that the island should offer sanctuary to a small number of unaccompanied refugee children.

‘However, we also acknowledge that many islanders have questions about how such a scheme would work and concerns over the ability of Jersey to accommodate these children and to offer them all of the support that they may need.’

This event comes weeks after the Crown Dependencies and the Home Office were not given leave appeal against a judgment to make communications about Syrian refugees publicly available.

Former Guernsey politician Tony Webber, has been pushing for the release of the documents, which concern Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man communicating with the Home Office about whether to accept refugees.