Meet Mhairi Refugee rights
My SNP colleague Angus MacNeil MP’s Private Members Bill – the Refugee Family Reunion Bill – will soon have its Second Reading.
The Bill addresses several issues about the UK Government’s policies on refugees.
It will seek to give the right to refugee children to be reunited with their parents.
Under the current rules, these children are not able to be a sponsor for their families when applying for asylum in the UK, leaving many of them living here alone.
The Bill will also look to extend the definition of family members, as currently only spouses and children under the age of 18 are allowed to join their family in the UK.
This puts young people at risk of being exploited or possibly trafficked, without that family support around them.
Angus MacNeil has already secured support for his Private Members Bill from the Refugee Council, UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency), Amnesty International and the British Red Cross.
This issue is not party political. It is a humanitarian issue and this Bill would bring the UK policy in line with that of the majority of European countries.
When refugees arrive in this country, they have already been through a twostage vetting process.
This includes one by the Home Office and another by the UN, with the taking of biometrics, documentary evidence and interviews.
They have had to endure so much to reach this country and abandon everything they have ever known.
It is no easy task to become a refugee in the UK, and so, for those who make it, we must welcome them with open arms.
They have been through enough without having to worry that their family members – sometimes still teenagers – are being denied entry.
This Bill makes so much sense and I am happy to support it in any way that I can.
After the poor turnout by opposition parties for my own Private Members Bill on benefit sanctions last year, I will not hold my breath that we will see a solution to these issues while Scotland and its policies are attached to Westminster.
I will be in attendance, however, supporting this Bill along with my other colleague Stuart McDonald MP’s Private Members Bill, Unpaid Trial Work Periods (Prohibition) Bill and the Voting Age (Reduction) Bill that would see our younger citizens able to vote in General Elections from the age of 16.