Child refugees

Signed and shared

"The number of potential child sex slaves identified was 217, 105 of whom are UK citizens, a 64 percent increase from 2014.

The Salvation Army won the government contract to run safe houses for victims of modern-day slavery in 2011. Anne Read, the anti-trafficking director, said 380 victims came into the service in the first year.

But in the past six months alone, they have taken in over 1,000 victims, bringing the total number of those who are referred to the Salvation Army for support to over 4,000."
They say this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Exactly, Jalima. Whether it's people in the camps or people in the UK, as in the Aljazeera link, they need to be brought to justice.
However, the children need to be safe first.
We can't ignore that fact while we are deciding who the exploiters are or how they are bringing them here.
If we had decided to take in those children from the camps near Calais, we would possibly not be having this conversation.

Blinko - thank you for signing the petition. Your question is a good one and the answer is complex. Vulnerable people, in any situation, become targets for those who would prey on them. There are gangs at work who are traffickers, but I expect there are also individuals in the camps who I'm sure will seek to take advantage of the lack of law and prey on those weaker than themselves. I say this not from any particular knowledge, but simply because, sadly, it's the way of the world.

Good point Blinko
It does not matter who is doing the exploitation
I think it does; whoever it is needs to be brought to justice.

interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2016/uk-slavery-sex-slave-smuggling-investigation/index.html

Do we want them to end up like this, or to come to the UK legally?
I know which I prefer.
It does not matter who is doing the exploitation; what matters is keeping them safe, surely.

Signed. Though as a related issue, I do wonder who is exploiting the children. Is it the people in the camps alongside the children? If so, are these the kind of people we want in this country? If they are not the exploiters, are they trying in any way to protect the unaccompanied children?

www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/04/refugee-settlement-programs-save-dying-italian-villages-160421113908416.html

A different way of looking at refugees.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/david-cameron-facing-embarrassing-u-7869993

Fingers crossed.

Thanks for the contribution Grannyactivist
Good to see GN is contributing to putting pressure on the government on this issue. GN must have a lot of members by now - so we are a force to be reckoned with.

I got that one right, Jalima.
Will not say yet, ga, for those that still want to do it.

Sorry, if anyone is doing the quiz SPOILER ALERT ABOVE

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Okay dj, which question caught you out? I'm intrigued.

Surprised. I knew it did not look right, but couldn't work out why.

I got that one wrong as well, Lazigirl.
But that wasn't the one which surpised me most.

Lazigirl, thank you.

leeds22 I agree with your first sentence wholeheartedly and think that as a country we can do more to care for children currently in the care system. Fostering, adoption and, most especially, mentoring programmes need support from individuals and from the state. I believe that grandparents can be amazing foster carers/mentors and would encourage people to investigate local opportunities.

However, to a child coming into this country as a refugee we can at least offer a place of safety. On this basis alone I truly believe that, however flawed the services we can offer, it is better to do something than to do nothing. At the end of the film Schindler's List we see Schindler regretting that he didn't do more; we can all do something and signing this petition could make all the difference in the world to children who have so little.
www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/schindlers-list/one-more-person

I think you have done an amazing thing grannyactivist. We are quite a distance from any refugee centres but your post prompted me to look up what's happening in this rural area and see what help is needed. Our council has offered to take up to 10 Syrian families which doesn't seem much to me. I got 2 answers wrong in the quiz dj and was quite ignorant about the countries that most are fleeing from, which isn't Syria.

Governments always seem to me to be able to fund their own, sometimes, crackpot schemes. Find some to help children who have lost everything, HMG, and make a small contribution to improving the world.

Signed the petition.

Is that a reason for not taking them?
Surely we should improve things for all children in this country.

My concern about Britain taking unaccompanied children from France is that this country's track record on looking after our own children in care is pretty bad (and has been for many years), you only have to look at the stats for how many of them finish up in prison. So how will we look after traumatised children from the middle east.

updates.oxfam.org.uk/c/1OjRMDe2IrLXkZXEarZ7oJqSB

This is a quiz on refugees, to find out how much you do or do not know about the situation.
One of the answers in particular surprised me.

66,000 signatures now. 199 in the last hour.

Does anyone else look at the map showing where the signatures are from?
It's very revealing. Some Tory constituencies have lots of signatures.
Perhaps Cameron should take note.

It was me who fostered the teenage boys from Afghanistan. One of them is now in the middle of an apprenticeship to be a plumber and the other is doing a BTEC in Business studies at college. Both have jobs when they're not studying and are paying taxes. They have hope and a future now.

Can you imagine being a little boy walking to school chatting to your friend walking alongside you - and then being splattered with your friend's body parts as a bomb explodes? How about having to hide to escape the Taliban as they visit your village seeking to press-gang you into joining them/becoming a suicide bomber? What about knowing that your dad has been captured by the Taliban and is being tortured every day? The trek over land and sea to safety begins to look like a more attractive proposition when these things are a part and parcel of every day life.

In the summer we'll be hosting more 'refugees' who will be joining us for holidays, they are in recovery from being tortured.

Please, please sign the petition. If you have doubts about signing go along to a refugee centre in your area and meet some of the people there - and then try to imagine children who are alone experiencing the kind of life they describe, and that drives adults to despair.