BY BEN KERRIGAN
David Cameron’s announced plans to take a restricted number of Syrian refugee children from Europe is not a bad one. The numbers to be allowed to resettle in Britain has not been finalized, but will be decided when ministers meet and discuss the matter soon with council members.
Children from refugee camps in Syria and neighboring countries are currently taking in, but extra pressure for the UK to take on more already in the EU has been mounting
Lone child refugees directly from North Africa and Middle East were already on the governments list, whilst calls to accept 3,000 children who had made it to Europe were rejected in order to discourage others from aspiring to make the same journey.
Consideration
After much consideration, the government have decided that children registered in Greece, Italy or France before the EU struck its refugee deal with Turkey – will be eligible for resettlement in the UK.
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The object of the review was to avoid a “perverse incentive” for families to entrust their children to people traffickers. A statement from downing street read:
It would mean the UK can focus on the “most vulnerable children already in Europe without encouraging more to make the journey”,
The PM, who has been facing the threat of a Conservative backbench rebellion in a vote over the issue, claimed to have accepted a revised amendment to the Immigration Bill put forward by Labour peer Lord Dubs. Mr Cameron’s discretion in this respect is positive because because whilst immigration is a sore issue because of the appalling record of our boarders, it is important to show humanity to some Syrian refugee children. It would be unquestionably cruel to ignore the plight of thousands of poor innocent children, just because they are Syrian.
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Empathy
This admirable and humane level of empathy still needs to be balanced by a close monitoring of these children. It is important to ensure they are not radicalized by fundamental extremists. Also it would be naive to assume that Syrian refugee children are immune from extremist target. But the human need to reach out to a restrictive group far outweighs the risks of radicalization of this kids. Besides, we must not forget that our security and intelligence service is one of the best in the world. I make Cameron right in his decision here.
There has been some criticism from Labour Mp’s that Cameron should have done more. However those criticisms are wrong. I make Cameron just right on this issue.
The Prime Minister told MPs: “I am also talking to Save the Children to see what we can do more, particularly about children who came here before the EU-Turkey deal was signed.
“What I don’t want us to do is to take steps that will encourage people to make this dangerous journey because otherwise our actions, however well-meaning they will be, could result in more people dying than making the journey”.
Cameron’s announced plans to take a restricted number of refugee children is therefore a positive move in the right direction..
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