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| Syrian teenager's brother looking forward to reunion after legal victory | Syrian teenager's brother looking forward to reunion after legal victory |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Four Syrian refugees who won a landmark legal case have been granted refugee status after arriving in Britain and been reunited with their families. | |
| They were met by family members at St Pancras station on Thursday night after travelling on a Eurostar train from France. | |
| The three teenagers and a 26-year-old man, who has mental health problems and is the brother of one of the teenagers, were able to come to the UK after a court ruled on Wednesday that the Home Office was wrong to refuse to consider their asylum applications. | |
| The four are all said to be traumatised by their experiences in their homeland. | |
| About 100 people gathered outside the station to celebrate the Syrians’ arrival in Britain and heard George Gabriel, of the campaigning group Citizens UK, told the crowd this was the start of a “frantic rollout” over the next couple months. | |
| He called for volunteer lawyers, translators and coordinators to help bring to the UK more refugee children and vulnerable adults with connections to nuclear family members living in Britain. Volunteers can register at the Safe Passage website. | |
| Ahead of their arrival, the older brother of one of the teenagers said he is “relieved and thankful” and looking forward to seeing him. | |
| Ahmed, who is not using his real name to protect his brother’s identity and who fled Syria for the UK with his family in 2014, said: “The first thing I’m going to do is hug him and not let him go. | |
| “He is the youngest in my family and I haven’t seen him in a long time. It is hard to describe how happy I felt when I heard the court’s ruling. It was really, really amazing. It was everything I was waiting for.” | |
| The father of one said: “I am pleased that the British legal system has recognised that the most vulnerable need help. | |
| “I am learning English, I will contribute to British society and I will help my brother to do the same. I thank everyone for their support and solidarity. War is a terrible thing for anyone to endure, but particularly for children and young people. No one should have to experience the horrors of war.” | “I am learning English, I will contribute to British society and I will help my brother to do the same. I thank everyone for their support and solidarity. War is a terrible thing for anyone to endure, but particularly for children and young people. No one should have to experience the horrors of war.” |
| Laura Griffiths, a volunteer with Citizens UK, who was with the Syrians in Calais, said: “They have been ready for this day for four months. They told me they had no words to describe how good they feel. They are are looking forward to that hug, to being with their families.” | |
| Oona Chaplin, the Game of Thrones actor who is Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter, has been to Calais several times and supported the campaign to bring the Syrians to Britain. “My heart swells at the thought of these three families coming together again after all they have been through,” she said. | |
| The four had applied for the British government to take charge of their asylum claims that would allow them to live in the country. But the Home Office rejected their applications under the ‘Dublin regulation’ that would only allow an asylum seeker in Calais to join family in Britain if they had already applied for asylum in France and there was an official request from Paris for them to join relatives. | The four had applied for the British government to take charge of their asylum claims that would allow them to live in the country. But the Home Office rejected their applications under the ‘Dublin regulation’ that would only allow an asylum seeker in Calais to join family in Britain if they had already applied for asylum in France and there was an official request from Paris for them to join relatives. |
| However, in a judicial review this week, lawyers for Citizens UK successfully argued that the Dublin system was not working. The immigration and asylum tribunal judges said they should be allowed to join their relatives while their asylum claims were being considered by the Home Office. Citizens UK says at least 250 unaccompanied minors are among the 5,000 people who live in the Calais camp. | However, in a judicial review this week, lawyers for Citizens UK successfully argued that the Dublin system was not working. The immigration and asylum tribunal judges said they should be allowed to join their relatives while their asylum claims were being considered by the Home Office. Citizens UK says at least 250 unaccompanied minors are among the 5,000 people who live in the Calais camp. |
| Peter Hill, the bishop of Barking, said: “This is a fantastic outcome for vulnerable child refugees in Calais who have a legal right to be reunited with their loved ones here in the UK. | Peter Hill, the bishop of Barking, said: “This is a fantastic outcome for vulnerable child refugees in Calais who have a legal right to be reunited with their loved ones here in the UK. |
| “Hopefully it puts an end to the unjust and damaging inaction of both the British and French governments who have prevaricated while young people have been forced to survive hand to mouth in the camps or put their lives into the hands of the people traffickers. Sadly, it has been too late for some.” | “Hopefully it puts an end to the unjust and damaging inaction of both the British and French governments who have prevaricated while young people have been forced to survive hand to mouth in the camps or put their lives into the hands of the people traffickers. Sadly, it has been too late for some.” |
| In a written statement, Ahmed spoke of the trauma suffered by his brother in Syria, where he could no longer attend school because of bombing. He said: “He has been under a lot of pressure. He has suffered a lot, him and others, after all he is a child and he will not be able to stand more than what he has already stood. There was no child that would bear to what this child saw.” His brother had seen death with his own eyes. | In a written statement, Ahmed spoke of the trauma suffered by his brother in Syria, where he could no longer attend school because of bombing. He said: “He has been under a lot of pressure. He has suffered a lot, him and others, after all he is a child and he will not be able to stand more than what he has already stood. There was no child that would bear to what this child saw.” His brother had seen death with his own eyes. |
| He said his brother’s journey out of Syria, via a people smuggler, had been difficult and bewildering and that he found the conditions intolerable when he got to Calais. | He said his brother’s journey out of Syria, via a people smuggler, had been difficult and bewildering and that he found the conditions intolerable when he got to Calais. |
| Ahmed said: “Sometimes he says to me, ‘If I stayed in Syria under the bombings and the war it would be better than the life here in the camp the Jungle, in the cold, the illness, in a very difficult situation’. | Ahmed said: “Sometimes he says to me, ‘If I stayed in Syria under the bombings and the war it would be better than the life here in the camp the Jungle, in the cold, the illness, in a very difficult situation’. |
| “He was calling me and telling me for example, ‘I can’t swim, I cannot venture, I don’t know how to hide under the lorries as others do’, hiding themselves between the wheels or going inside the lorries and hiding within the merchandise, in the fridges as he saw other people.” | “He was calling me and telling me for example, ‘I can’t swim, I cannot venture, I don’t know how to hide under the lorries as others do’, hiding themselves between the wheels or going inside the lorries and hiding within the merchandise, in the fridges as he saw other people.” |
| Ahmed said he managed to persuade his brother to be patient and try legal routes to get to safety in the UK. | Ahmed said he managed to persuade his brother to be patient and try legal routes to get to safety in the UK. |
| This month, a 15-year-old Afghan boy, Masud, suffocated to death on the back of a lorry travelling from Dunkirk to the UK. Masud, whose sister lives in the UK, had told friends in the camp he could not wait any longer. | This month, a 15-year-old Afghan boy, Masud, suffocated to death on the back of a lorry travelling from Dunkirk to the UK. Masud, whose sister lives in the UK, had told friends in the camp he could not wait any longer. |