More than 16,000 refugees unable to reunite with families in UK, says Refugee Council | Refugees

More than 16,000 refugees have been unable to reunite with their families in the UK, according to the Refugee Council, leaving them either trapped in conflict zones or turning to people smugglers to reach safety.

The government suspended the reunification of refugee families last September. It allowed a person granted refugee status to apply to have immediate family members, such as their partner and children under 18, reunited with them in the UK. The indication was that the suspension would last until the spring of this year.

However, there has been no confirmation yet as to whether this route, which provides a lifeline to thousands of families separated due to war, will be restarted. The Refugee Council calculated that 16,300 people have had their applications banned since the suspension came into force 10 months ago, using published Home Office data for the months before the suspension. Nine out of every 10 people eligible for refugee family reunification are women and children. Based on the data, they estimate that of this number, 9,273 are children and 5,835 are women.

The government operates other safe and legal routes for the most vulnerable refugees, but these arrivals fell by more than a third last year. New ways were announced, such as community sponsorship, where a community provides support to refugees of its choosing with housing, employment and integration.

But Home Office sources told the Guardian that the scheme, which has been in place for the last decade, has brought only 1,000 people to the UK, mostly family units, so only a small number of families benefit from it each year. The government has said it expects new ways of working and studying, as well as a new community sponsorship scheme, to bring refugees into the low hundreds initially. Hundreds of refugees cross the Channel in small boats on a moderately busy day.

An Iranian refugee living in London with her two children, aged 21 and 16, said she was upset that refugee family reunification had been suspended because her husband was trapped in very dangerous conditions in Iran. She and her children arrived here four years ago and sought asylum, but had to wait nearly a year and a half for their first interview at the Home Office. Their cases were initially dismissed and later won on appeal.

“If the Home Office had handled our case quickly, we could have brought my husband here before the ban on family reunification of refugees was implemented,” she said. “Knowing that my husband is still trapped in Iran is agonizing torture. In my view, what is happening is a clear and direct violation of human rights. It is brutally tearing families apart and destroying our last hope.”

Imran Hussain, Director of External Affairs at the Refugee Council, said: “Safe and legal routes save lives. Women and children trying to escape devastating wars and brutal regimes in countries such as Sudan and Afghanistan are forced onto small boats out of desperation. No parent would risk the life of their child by crossing the Channel in a small boat unless they believe the danger they are fleeing is greater than the dangers they face at sea.”

“We welcome the government’s commitment to creating new safe routes, but these should not be at the expense of existing roads that have already saved lives. As well as expanding new safe routes, the government must urgently ensure the reunification of refugee families so they can find safety together, rebuild their lives, integrate and play their part in Britain.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “The immigration and asylum bill will reform human rights laws to prevent abuse of the asylum system while ensuring those in need are protected.

“We also recently announced that new safe and legal routes for refugees will begin in the autumn.

“As part of the government’s reforms to create a fairer asylum system, family reunification will no longer be automatic. Those wishing to bring family members to the UK will need to meet stricter criteria.”