As refugees head to Europe, UK takes 30% less children, figures reveal

As thousands of refugees find a way to get to Europe after Turkey’s announcement it was opening the borders, official figures have shown the UK resettled 30 per cent less children last year.

According to the Independent, 395 children were resettled under the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement (VCR) scheme in 2018, down to just 278 in 2019.

In 2016 the UK launched the VCR with a promise to resettle up to 3,000 vulnerable children and their families from the Middle East and North Africa by 2020.

The scheme has so far only resettled 1,747.

In January, Conservative MPs voted down a House of Lords amendment to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit legislation which proposed guaranteeing child refugees are reunited with their families after the UK withdraws from the EU.

Lord Dubs’ provisions would have meant ministers had to negotiate a scheme with the EU that meant unaccompanied minors stranded in Europe could be reunited with their family in the UK.

The prime minister himself vowed he would overturn the measure.

READ: Turkey has given Europe a choice: deter Russia from bombing Idlib, or face more refugees

Many child refugees live in overcrowded, unhygienic, dangerous camps. Charities have consistently warned that child refugees will make increasingly dangerous journeys if they are not offered safe passage.

Earlier this week a four-year-old Syrian boy died after the dinghy he was in capsized off the Greek island of Lesbos.

His death has once again brought to the fore the dangerous journey thousands of refugees are forced to make to seek safety in Europe.

Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened his borders after accusing Europe of failing to give sufficient funds and assistance to the 3.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.

In 2016 the EU and Turkey signed an accord under which Turkey agreed to hold refugees back from the EU borders in exchange for $6.7 billion. Europe says it has paid out $3.6 billion.

“Since we have opened the borders, the number of refugees heading toward Europe has reached hundreds of thousands. This number will soon be in the millions,” Erdogan has said.

The number of refugees arriving on the Turkish-Greek border has significantly swelled as Russian-backed Syrian forces bombard Idlib.

The Turkish coastguard released footage of Greek boats attempting to stop refugees reaching its shores, firing warning shots into the water and using tear gas and stun grenades at the border.

On Monday, Syrian refugee, Ahmed Abu Emad from Aleppo died after being shot in the throat by Greek border guards.

The Greek prime minister has announced Athens was freezing asylum applications in the country and that migrants who arrived after 1 March in the northern city of Serres will be deported back to their home countries.

READ: A bloodbath on the border is not the solution to the Syrian refugee crisis