Dr Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire) (SNP)

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I, too, welcome you back to the Chair, Mr Deputy Speaker.

I rise to present this petition on family reunification for child refugees on behalf of St Patrick’s Primary and Symington Primary, which, as UN rights-respecting schools, have been considering the experience of children driven from their homes by war.

After watching the film “Paddington”, about a refugee from Peru, the children drew the most precious things they would put in their little suitcases, particularly family photographs. They have written luggage labels asking that refugee children be reunited in this country not just with parents, but with grandparents, aunts and uncles. Tiny suitcases and labels may not be the image of today’s child refugees, but in the run-up to Holocaust Memorial Day, they remind us all of the 10,000 children saved from Nazi Germany by the Kindertransport.

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to extend the current definition of family relation to unaccompanied child refugees entering the United Kingdom.

Following is the full text of the petition:

[The petition of residents of the United Kingdom,

Declares that the government must do more to protect the rights of refugee children, in particular their right to protection and to be reunited with their family in the United Kingdom; and further that it is vital that the law is altered to recognised the broader range of individuals as family, and that in addition to parents, children's siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents are also acknowledged as family members.

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to extend the current definition of family relation to unaccompanied child refugees entering the United Kingdom.

And the petitioners remain, etc.]

[P002100]