Families have a right to live together

ON Sunday families throughout Wales were celebrating Mother’s Day.

Many will have enjoyed precious time with their mams or their children; most will have sent cards and gifts and some will have simply spent the day in remembrance of mothers and grandmothers, cherished always but no longer with us.

Mother’s Day is a time for families and the perfect opportunity to reflect upon the importance of those we are closest to.

It is a chance to consider where each of us comes from and to acknowledge our reliance upon those we love most.

Yet, across the world, there are mothers and children separated by circumstances beyond their control.

At a time when 65 million people worldwide – half of them children – have been forced from their homes because of conflict, violence and persecution, entire families have been fragmented by circumstance and, in many cases, scattered to the four corners of the globe.

Mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sisters and spouses live apart, often occupying different continents.

Some have found a way to safety and sanctuary in welcoming nations like Wales.

Others remain in some of the most dangerous parts of the world and face a daily battle for survival.

We believe that families should be together, that those separated should be reunited and able to live their lives with confidence and optimism.

On Friday, in Parliament, MPs will gather to hear the second reading of the private member Family Reunion Bill that calls for changes in the law to better enable refugees to be reunited with much-loved and much-missed family members.

At present there are too many barriers to family reunion as refugees are denied legal aid for what are often complex cases and many close family members, including children above the age of 18, are excluded from the legislative criteria allowing for reunion.

All of our organisations work to support refugees and asylumseekers in Wales and we have come together to publish a report that demonstrates the barriers to family reunion and the trauma and anxiety caused to families who are forced to live apart.

Our research even shows that refugees in Wales find it harder to integrate into their new communities when separated from close family members.

All of us understand, even if we

cannot possibly fully comprehend, the terrible experiences that refugees across the world have already endured and can appreciate how such misery can only be compounded by denying close family members the opportunity to reunite safely and lawfully.

That is why we are calling on all MPs in Wales to attend Friday’s second reading and support the Family Reunion Bill.

For most of us, the family unit is the bedrock of our being and the idea of being forcibly separated from our loved ones appals us.

MPs have an opportunity on Friday to demonstrate that all families have a right to live together, heal together and thrive together.

Let’s work together to ensure that next Mother’s Day is even more of a cause for celebration.

Stanislava Sofrenic British Red Cross Director for Wales Rocio Cifuentes Welsh Refugee Coalition Chair Canon Aled Edwards OBE Displaced People in Action (DPIA) Chair Ruth Brown Asylum Justice Legal Director