Logo

 

Banner Image:   National-News-banner-Purple
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet

'Child refugees need your support'

Those who believe the UK should take in unaccompanied children stranded in Europe are being encouraged to make their voices heard ahead of a crucial Commons vote

On Monday last week a cross-party amendment to the immigration bill that would have seen the UK accept 3,000 child refugees was narrowly defeated by 294 votes to 276. A small number of Conservative MPs voted against the Government.

That amendment has been revised to remove the commitment to take 3000 children, instead putting the decision on numbers in the hands of the government and local authorities. The amendment was passed in the House of Lords on Tuesday (with an increased majority) and will now come back to the House of Commons next Monday (9 May).
 
With commentators noting that if just 10 of the MPs who voted against the amendment had changed their mind the amendment would have been carried, supporters are being asked to raise their voices.
 
The charity Help Refugees is encouraging supporters to write, email, tweet your MP and ask them to show compassion for the children alone in Europe, having fled war and terror in search of safety.

‘Remind them that Britain should not turn their backs on these children and urge them to be on the right side of history by voting in favour of the revised Dubs Amendment,’ it stated.

The following website enables people to write to their MPs: https://www.writetothem.com/
 
There are also two petitions supporters are being encouraged to sign:
 
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/128833
 
https://www.change.org/p/government-save-lone-child-refugees-in-europe
 
Help Refugees added there are 95,000 unaccompanied minors registered in the EU. Europol have already stated that 10,000 are missing.

'Not helping these children leaves them vulnerable to sexual exploitation, trafficking and neglect in inhumane living conditions,' it stated.


Following the initial vote Baptist minister Juliet Kilpin wondered what impact children writing to MPs who had voted with the Government would have. Her post was widely shared:

 

Craig Gardiner, a tutor at South Wales Baptist College, was one of many to respond. His daughter Niamh, eight, wrote to local MP Jo Stevens. The story was subsequently picked up by the Huffington Post.

Ms Stevens told HuffPost UK: 'Niamh and Euan’s letter to me is the perfect example of that old saying, ‘out of the mouths of babes.’

'Their simple, heartfelt message to the Prime Minister and Cardiff’s only Conservative MP that the Government should offer sanctuary to a small number of refugee children, sums up wider public opinion that he and the vast majority of Tory MPs have got this so badly wrong.'

Update: On Wednesday (4 May) Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK will take in more unaccompanied Syrian refugee children from Europe, but did not commit to a specific figure


 
Baptist Times, 29/04/2016
    Post     Tweet
'A privilege to see the ripple effects of Project Violet impact the Baptist global family'
Participants have been reflecting on the Project Violet International Symposium, which saw more than 30 Baptist women from 10 countries deliver theological papers and engage in plenary discussion
Churches invited to apply for science-faith funding
Churches across the UK can now apply for a grant of up to £10,000 for a project which creatively brings together their faith and a scientific topic
Flowing faith from one generation to the next
The Baptist Union of Great Britain with BMS World Mission are launching a new church resource to help those considering an ongoing blessing to support God’s mission both in the UK and overseas
Fresh Streams calls Baptists Together to a day of prayer and fasting
Fresh Streams is calling Baptist churches, ministers, and individuals across the UK to unite in a dedicated day of prayer and fasting on Thursday, 27 March 2025
'We urge the Government to rethink its decision immediately'
General Secretary Lynn Green has joined Methodist, Church of Scotland and United Reformed Church leaders in expressing regret and lament at the Prime Minister’s announcement of further cuts to the international development budget
St Hild Centre for Baptist Ministry now registered with the Office for Students
Eligible students at the centre will now, for the first time, be able to access student finance, including loans for both undergraduate and postgraduate study
     Latest News 
    Posted: 07/01/2025
    Posted: 07/01/2025
     
    Text Size:  
    Small (Default)
    Medium
    Large
    Contrast:  
    Normal
    High Contrast