Response to Parliamentary Vote on Unaccompanied Children in Greece and Italy

1 March 2017 – Responding to today’s vote on unaccompanied children in Greece and Italy, Lily Caprani, Deputy Executive Director at Unicef UK, said:
“Today’s vote shows overwhelming cross-party support for the UK doing the right thing for vulnerable refugee children in Europe. Ahead of a major vote on an amendment next week which would ensure the Government must work to ensure more local authority capacity for refugee children, this is a clear signal that Conservative MPs and all of Parliament want the Government to do more to protect unaccompanied children.
“Nine out of 10 child migrants, over 25,000, entered Italy last year unaccompanied. Just this week, Unicef revealed that many had fallen victim to trafficking and had suffered violence and abuse en route via Libya. If the Dubs scheme comes to an end there will be no process to offer protection in the UK to the most vulnerable unaccompanied children stranded in Europe without family. Without safe and legal routes, these children are at far greater risk from horrific sexual and criminal exploitation.
“At the same time, Government must demonstrate its ongoing commitment to reuniting vulnerable refugee children with their families. The Government must take urgent action to make sure children in Greece and Italy with families in the UK can be reunited with them”.

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For more information please contact:
Lilly Carlisle, Unicef UK, +44 (0)207 375 6212 or [email protected]
Unicef UK Media Team on +44 (0)207 375 6030 or [email protected]

About Unicef:
Unicef is the world’s leading organisation for children, promoting the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
Unicef UK raises funds to protect children in danger, transform their lives and build a safer world for tomorrow’s children. As a registered charity we raise funds through donations from individuals, organisations and companies and we lobby and campaign to keep children safe. Unicef UK also runs programmes in schools, hospitals and with local authorities in the UK. For more information please visit unicef.org.uk. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook