At the end of November last year, CFAB’s CEO Carolyn Housman spoke to the Parliamentary Joint Committee for Human Rights on rights for asylum-seeking children in the UK, providing oral evidence to suggest changes needed to UK law to ensure it is human rights compliant.
Carolyn spoke about a child’s right to family and offered key recommendations including arguments for safe and legal routes for asylum-seeking children to join family in the UK.
Carolyn highlighted four key recommendations from CFAB, all rooted in our experience and work on the ground with refugee and asylum-seeking children in the UK, especially as part of our Family Reunification Project. The first recommendation evidenced that there should be more safe and legal routes for asylum-seeking children to join family in the UK, with any barriers that contravene the right to family, as set out by the UN Convention on the Rights of Children, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UK’s own legislation, lifted.
Within the debate, Carolyn also recommended a reduction in the length of time it takes for asylum-seekers to apply for the right to work. Almost all people seeking asylum are prohibited from seeking work and are forced to rely on state support, which is often less than £6 a day. This is not an income compatible with survival in our current society, and makes paying for basics such as food, nappies and clothes near impossible. This financial strain also makes asylum-seeking children more vulnerable to being removed from their families and taken into care and sets a poor example of their path to integration into life in the UK. From CFAB’s direct experience, asylum seekers often have no knowledge of the welfare benefits before they arrive and no expectation that they would receive financial support. Children and families, who are willing to work to support themselves, are being unnecessarily put at risk as a result.
It was a privilege for our CEO to speak to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, providing evidence based on our international expertise and experience. We welcome further conversations and collaboration to ensure the rights of asylum-seeking children are upheld and protected.
