Maria Margaronis (The bulldozing of hope as well as home, 27 October) had me almost weeping, yet again, at the fate of people in their hundreds of thousands fleeing war and oppression and trying to reach Europe for safety and a life every human should expect. And for those stranded at the camps of Calais and Idomeni, as examples, she, along with many others, suggests that “Europe works to open safe routes for refugees” as the answer.
One presumes these “safe routes” lead to living in Europe instead of refugees’ own countries. Surely “everyone come here” is not the answer that can ever really work, for Europe or anywhere else. If Europe is failing in its obligations to help refugees then it has a choice, either to declare that it is not our problem and erect razor-wire fences and police the barriers, or ensure and maintain safe havens, through military action if necessary, within or close to the countries of origin. That is where the failure of the EU or the United Nations really lies.
Terry Collins
Romsey, Hampshire
• The article by Alan Travis (Fears for children as camp demolition starts, 26 October) explains that one cause for the delay has been that the children are being identified individually. Compare that with what happened in November 1938 when the then home secretary Sir Samuel Hoare, following a House of Commons debate, agreed that travel documents would be issued to would-be refugee children fleeing Nazism, on the basis of group lists rather than individual applications.
This became the Kindertransport. Amber Rudd, today’s home secretary, must operate the same scheme now and allow in all young people from “the Jungle”.
Merilyn Moos
London
• No one should be surprised by Theresa May’s hard line (Report, 28 October) on the Calais children, or any other possible migrants to the UK. It is consistent not only with her last conference speech as home secretary but with the whole of her tenure at the Home Office, in a “tradition” that dates back to restrictions on migration in the 1930s (and postwar), and the insistence then that those who were allowed entry – children and adults – should not draw on the public purse.
Then, as now, many non-politicians have volunteered to welcome into their homes migrant children and families in flight from Syria and beyond; then as now the Home Office throws up bureaucratic barriers and, through lack of financial support, prevents local authorities from stepping up at a time when children’s services across the country are being starved of funds. So the Home Office has “no jurisdiction to operate on French territory”?
Jolly good then. Grandiose talk of Britain’s legacy of offering refuge is just that, grandiose talk empty of meaning. Empathy? Sympathy? UN and EU treaties and covenants signed but in practice not acted upon. Goodnight children, wherever you are. So long as it’s not here.
Bruce Ross-Smith
Oxford
• I write in utter dismay at the situation now being reported from Calais (Calais minors lured from camp, 27 October). Hundreds of children sleeping on the ground, or in unheated warehouses or other inappropriate buildings, unregistered through no fault of their own, nowhere to go and now being arrested.
This is simply intolerable. If we ever want to talk about British values again, we must intervene immediately. It is unacceptable to say that this is a French problem – we could take every single one of these children right now under the Dubs amendment, and if the home secretary and a contingent of Home Office staff were to get on a train tomorrow morning, and go there, they could make this happen.
The events of the past few days constitute a dreadful stain on the reputation of this country and that of France, and will go down in history as evidence of our collective lack of humanity. It is surely now a matter of criminal negligence that, despite all the detailed information and warnings over so many months, our Home Office has left taking any action until the absolute last minute, and then failed so badly to ensure the most basic human rights of so many of these children.
Dr Felicity Laurence
Hastings, East Sussex
• My family and I fled my home nation of Kurdistan in 1999 due to the civil war. My father, like many other Kurds, sought a better life in Europe for his family as a result of the oppression faced from Saddam’s regime. He always said that if he had to choose between the wrath of Saddam and risk his family’s life or negativity from a minority that didn’t want him in Britain, he would have always chosen the latter.
Compassion shown by Gary Lineker (Lineker hits back at online abuse over criticism of Calais refugee coverage, 19 October) about the treatment of refugees led to an outcry and negative responses including “they come here and take our jobs” and the classic “they come for our benefits”. I wanted to share my story of coming to Britain, and of being here for reasons other than stealing your jobs or your benefits.
I was four when I came to Europe. First we settled in Holland and eventually we moved to the UK. As a child refugee life wasn’t always easy as some may have you believe. At school I struggled with the language, growing up in poverty, and facing racism. However, we integrated, learned the language and adapted to become part of British society. My siblings and I all studied Stem subjects at top universities across the UK. I’m currently a chemical engineering undergraduate at the University of Leeds.
We are not a lone example of “foreigners” wanting to integrate into the UK society. Mo Farah has won multiple awards in athletics for Britain, he came to the UK as a child from Somalia barely speaking a word of English. The late Zaha Hadid was the first women to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize was born in Iraq and became a naturalised citizen of the UK. The list goes on and on of those who came to Britain and made a difference.
No matter what, I’m extremely thankful for what the UK has given me. My family and I have had multiple chances to move abroad and make a lucrative living. We never accepted those offers because Britain is now our home. The people who have welcomed and accepted us have been far greater in number than those who haven’t. We want to be here and help Britain grow, pay back the debt that we feel we owe the UK, and work towards making Britain great, no matter how much negativity a minority give us.
If we weren’t forced out of our homes in Kurdistan, we wouldn’t have moved. However, I do want to make it clear that my family, like many others, didn’t come here to sponge off British society. We came here to be part of your society. So thank you, Gary, for showing compassion for those who need it.
Mohammed Ali
Leeds
• Given how many nice, white, middle-class English parents lie about their religious beliefs or where they really live in order to get their children into their preferred school (“Well, we don’t like it but you have to do the best for your children, don’t you?”) you would think they would show more sympathy if – and I stress if – a desperate 19-year-old claims to be 17 in order to get out of a hell hole.
Rosemary Chamberlin
Bristol
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