There is no evidence for the home secretary’s claim that the Dubs scheme to bring child refugees to the UK encourages other children to make unsafe journeys (Child refugees have hopes raised as Home Office reviews Calais cases, 20 February). Sadly, however, it’s an argument the government often uses as cover for its failure to share responsibility for hosting refugees, including children, and providing legal routes for them to reach safety. For example, while adults entitled to asylum are allowed to bring their close family to join them here, children are not, and the government trots out the same evidence-free “encouragement” claim as justification. This latter policy cruelly denies vulnerable children who have already experienced the horrors of war, violence and exploitation the chance to grow up with the love and care of their parents and siblings. Ministers must urgently reverse their decision to end the Dubs scheme, and the close family of child refugees in the UK must be permitted to join them here if they can be located.
Steve Symonds
Amnesty UK’s refugee and migrant rights programme director
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