Policies to care for refugee children aren't 'pull factors,' aid groups say

Lord Dubs, creator of the amendment to resettle more unaccompanied refugee children in the U.K., faces the Parliamentary International Development Committee, alongside aid groups, to counter the government's assertion that such policies encourage young people to make the perilous journey to Europe

By // 15 March 2017

Policies protecting unaccompanied refugee children do not encourage irregular migration to the United Kingdom, Lord Alf Dubs argued alongside aid experts yesterday in front of the U.K. Parliamentary International Development Committee.

Representatives from UNICEF UK, Human Rights Watch UK and Safe Passage UK offered evidence to the IDC to support the claims made by Lord Alf Dubs, the peer behind Section 67 of the U.K. Immigration Act 2016, which has now been closed.

Widely known as the “Dubs Amendment,” it required the U.K. Home Office to resettle unaccompanied refugee children from elsewhere in Europe based on the capacity of local councils to receive them. Campaigners had hoped the scheme would help around 3,000 children.

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About the author

  • Molly Anders

    Molly Anders

    Molly Anders is a former U.K. correspondent for Devex. Based in London, she reports on development finance trends with a focus on British and European institutions. She is especially interested in evidence-based development and women’s economic empowerment, as well as innovative financing for the protection of migrants and refugees. Molly is a former Fulbright Scholar and studied Arabic in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco.

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