Reuniting refugees with their families

LAST Friday one in four Welsh MPs voted in favour of changing the law to enable families divided by conflict and persecution to be reunited in Britain.

The Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill, a Private Member’s Bill from the Scottish National Party’s Angus MacNeil MP, received cross-party backing from 129 MPs, taking it one step closer to becoming law.

The Welsh Refugee Coalition would like to thank Hywel Williams MP for co-sponsoring the Bill and express our heartfelt thanks to Jo Stevens, Albert Owen, Mark Tami, Wayne David, Nick Thomas Symonds, Stephen Doughty, Jonathan Edwards, Liz Saville Roberts and Carolyn Harris for attending the second reading of the Refugees (Family Reunion) (No 2) Bill and for supporting measures to help reunite refugee families.

If enshrined into law, this Bill would allow a wider range of family members to be reunited with refugees in the UK. It would provide a route for child refugees to grow up with their families, and allow young people who have turned 18 a better chance to be reunited with their parents. It would also reintroduce legal aid so that refugees who have lost everything can afford to navigate the complicated process of being reunited with their families.

Currently, the UK Government’s rules prevent refugees in Britain from being reunited with anyone other than their partner or children under 18. Child refugees who arrive in the UK alone are also unable to bring their parents to join them under the current rules. Such a restriction sets the UK apart from most other countries in the EU.

The vote on Friday was a significant moment for refugees in the UK, who are desperate to be reunited with their families but are unable to do so under the current immigration system.

We know that family reunion is central to helping refugees integrate in the UK. By ensuring that often traumatised and isolated people have their family around them, and are free from the worry that comes with knowing that some members of their family are in danger, we would be helping thousands of people integrate into communities across Wales and the UK, which could have a positive effect on all our lives. Rocio Cifuentes, chair of the Welsh Refugee Coalition