UK child refugee announcement ‘step in right direction’

World Vision UK welcomes today’s announcement that 3,000 more refugee children will come to Britain from the Syria region, particularly vulnerable children threatened with child labour, child marriage and other forms of abuse.

However, the charity continues its urgent call for all countries across the EU to unify and ‘pull their weight’ to halt the needless deaths of children already en route.

The UK Government made the pledge to take unaccompanied children, and “those at risk”, in addition to David Cameron’s earlier promise to allow 20,000 refugees into Britain by 2020.

Sarah Pickwick, World Vision UK’s Senior Conflict Adviser, said:

“Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction. There’s already immense strain on the countries neighbouring Syria which are shouldering responsibility for millions of refugees who have fled this horrific conflict.

“Countries like Lebanon, where our staff work with refugees on a daily basis, have seen their infrastructure pushed to breaking point with children out of school and going hungry.

“We continue our call for all countries, including Britain, to pull their weight in an organised way and take their fair share of families fleeing conflict, instead of ad hoc announcements and unworkable deals.

“Until that happens, desperate families will stop at nothing to find sanctuary for their children, leading to unsafe journeys which will put children’s lives at risk.”

World Vision has joined the call with other charities in recent months for Britain to accept 3,000 unaccompanied children from Europe, on top of the commitment to take refugees from countries surrounding Syria.