Safe Passage - finding a legal and safe way for unaccompanied children

Article written by Beth Gardiner-Smith, CEO of Safe Passage.

In 2015, a group of volunteer lawyers, faith leaders and activists formed Safe Passage, determined to find a legal and safe way to reunite hundreds of unaccompanied children in the ‘Calais Jungle’ with their families in the UK. In theory, the family reunion provisions of the Dublin Regulation were one of the few legal routes for such children to reach safety. However, until then, these provisions had never been used to reunite a child in France with their family in Britain. With the support of several legal partners, three children and one vulnerable adult won a landmark ruling in January 2016 against the UK’s Home Office’s refusal to admit them to join their family. The case opened up a safe and legal route for children seeking family reunion and laid the foundation for Safe Passage’s work. Just two months later, the first unaccompanied minors travelled to the UK through the Dublin Regulation’s family reunion provisions. Safe Passage continues to support cases directly; last year we supported 40% of successful family reunification cases of unaccompanied children from France to the UK. We have expanded our work to Greece and also support some of the first reunions of unaccompanied minors from Italy.

With the help of EPIM’s “Never Alone” programme, we now also provide training and legal advice to other practitioners to build capacity across the system. We also continue to use strategic litigation to improve the application of the Dublin Regulation. The family reunion provisions of the Dublin Regulation remain one of the few legal routes for unaccompanied children. This is why this route to the UK must not close overnight in the event of a no-deal Brexit. In 2018, Safe Passage led a campaign that saw legislation passed to guarantee rights for unaccompanied children comparable to those of the Dublin Regulation even after Britain’s departure from the EU.  In the event of a no-deal scenario, this legislation will not apply. Secondary legislation commits the UK to process Dublin applications it receives by the date of exit. However, the UK has no legal obligation to accept children with a family claim where an application has not been received. Even for claims submitted within time, there is no guarantee that the EU will cooperate to facilitate the transfers, nor any clarity over the process for appealing against a rejection.

While the UK’s domestic immigration laws include some provision for family reunion, these fall far short of the rights enjoyed under the Dublin Regulation. Unless steps are taken by both the UK government and EU to maintain family reunion to the Dublin standards, there is a real risk that a no-deal Brexit will lead to children disappearing from the system. Without further legal options, more children may attempt to make their own way via dangerous routes such as the Channel crossing – a route which has already claimed the lives of at least six children since 2014. Safe Passage has launched an awareness-raising campaign amongst partners and practitioners across Europe and is campaigning in the UK to secure a guarantee that this vital legal route will not be closed down as a result of no-deal Brexit. Unaccompanied children must not be made the unwitting victims of a no-deal Brexit.