UK govt says scores of child asylum-seekers are missing

UK govt says scores of child asylum-seekers are missing
Pro-immigration protestors argue with an anti-immigration protestor, during a calling a migrant processing centre to be closed in Manston, UK. (File/Reuters)
Short Url
Updated 24 January 2023

UK govt says scores of child asylum-seekers are missing

UK govt says scores of child asylum-seekers are missing
  • Opposition parties and children’s advocates have accused the government of putting vulnerable young people in danger
  • Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said that most the children missing are teenage boys from Albania

LONDON: Opposition parties and children’s advocates accused the UK government on Tuesday of putting vulnerable young people in danger, after authorities said scores of children who arrived in Britain as asylum-seekers have disappeared.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick told lawmakers that more than 200 children and teenagers under 18 were missing from government-approved accommodation. He said most were teenage boys from Albania.
Labour Party lawmaker Peter Kyle said 76 children had vanished from a hotel in the south coast seaside town of Brighton, one of several around the country where unaccompanied children are housed temporarily.
The Observer newspaper this week cited child protection sources and an unidentified whistleblower working for a government contractor as saying dozens of youngsters had been abducted off the street outside a Brighton hotel and bundled into cars.
“The uncomfortable truth for us is if one child who was related to one of us in this room went missing, the world would stop,” Kyle said in the House of Commons. “But in the community I represent a child has gone missing, then five went missing, then a dozen went missing, then 50 went missing and currently today 76 are missing and nothing is happening.”
Labour’s immigration spokeswoman, Yvette Cooper, accused the government of “a total dereliction of duty that is putting children at risk.”
Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, said the reports of children disappearing from hotels “have highlighted, once again, the vulnerability of these children, who are in limbo, with a concerted group of people determined to exploit them.”
“I am concerned for the safety of this group of children whose vulnerability is exacerbated by not speaking English, many of whom have no support network and are not aware of their rights,” she said in a letter to the Home Office.
Jenrick said security guards, nurses and social workers were all based at hotels to ensure children were safe.
But he acknowledged that “we’ve no power to detain unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in these settings and we know some do go missing.”
“Many of those who have gone missing are subsequently traced and located,” he said.
Jenrick said he had not seen evidence of children being abducted off the street but promised to investigate further.
“I’m not going to let the matter drop,” he said.
While Britain receives fewer asylum-seekers than European countries including Italy, Germany and France, there has been a large increase in the number of people trying to reach the UK in small boats across the English Channel. More than 45,000 people arrived in Britain across the Channel in 2022, and several died in the attempt.
The government has pledged to stop the risky journeys, so far without success.


UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda

UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda
Updated 30 March 2023

UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda

UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda
  • Home Office: Because veteran did not enter Britain via legal route, his asylum claim may be denied
  • Ex-international development secretary: Govt ‘shirking’ its responsibilities toward Afghans who fought alongside UK

LONDON: Senior military chiefs, politicians and diplomats in the UK have urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to prevent the deportation of an Afghan veteran to Rwanda, The Independent reported on Wednesday.

The war pilot flew 30 combat missions against the Taliban and was forced to flee to Britain. Because he could find no safe and legal route, he traveled on a small boat to reach the country. He was praised by his coalition forces supervisor as a “patriot to his nation.”

However, the Home Office said because he traveled through Italy, Switzerland and France in order to enter England, his claim for asylum in the UK may be denied. 

The Home Office informed the pilot that he “may also be removable to Rwanda,” and that his personal information could be shared with Rwandan authorities, The Independent reported.

Former International Development Secretary Rory Stewart called the pilot’s story “profoundly shocking” because it contradicts the government’s promises made to those in Afghanistan. 

“We are shirking our responsibilities towards Afghans who risked their lives to fight alongside us and who are now at risk of their lives,” he told The Independent. 

Sir Laurie Bristow, who was British ambassador to Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul, said the lives of Afghans who fought for the UK “are at risk as a result.”

He told The Independent: “Many of our own service people owe their lives to Afghans who worked and fought alongside them in Afghanistan.”

Sir Richard Barrons, a former chief of joint operations who served in Afghanistan, said the pilot’s route to Britain should not impact his asylum claim “considering the mess the government made with the evacuation process.”

When confronted on Wednesday about the Afghan veteran’s threatened deportation to Rwanda during the “Today” program, British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said the government is determined to crack down on “criminal gangs who feed the illegal asylum trade” by bringing people to the UK on small boats.

But Col. Simon Diggins, who served as a defense attache in Afghanistan, told The Independent: “We shouldn’t accept the terminology that he got here ‘illegally’; that is not the right language for people like him who have no other means of getting here safely. It is appalling that this man who was in our allied forces is being treated in this way.”

Maj. Gen. Tim Cross, who served in Iraq, the Balkans and Northern Ireland, said: “If this man was a member of Afghan forces fighting alongside the coalition then the risks to him are obvious.

“The whole Afghanistan withdrawal was terribly done, and cases like these are the human consequences of mistakes we made in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Former Defense Minister Kevan Jones told The Independent: “We have a huge debt to these people. This is no way to treat them. It’s a stain on Britain’s great reputation of supporting its friends.

“We always stick by our friends. We should continue to do that. This government is clearly not doing that in this case and many others.”

Sunak has promised to review the veteran’s case. On Monday, he asked the Home Office to look further into his situation.


Fate of Russian girl separated from father over Ukraine unclear

Fate of Russian girl separated from father over Ukraine unclear
Updated 29 March 2023

Fate of Russian girl separated from father over Ukraine unclear

Fate of Russian girl separated from father over Ukraine unclear
  • Maria was taken away from him in early March and placed in a local "rehabilitation centre" for minors, with the pair denied contact
  • The case has garnered national attention, as Moscow cracks down on criticism of the offensive in Ukraine

MOSCOW: The fate of a Russian child who drew a pro-peace sketch was unclear Wednesday, a day after her father fled house arrest to avoid prison time over criticism of Moscow's assault on Ukraine.
Single father Alexei Moskalyov fled house arrest just before a court in the town of Yefremov south of Moscow handed him a two-year sentence for "discrediting" the Russian army.
Since early March Moskalyov has been separated from his 13-year-old daughter Maria as punishment for his criticism of Kremlin policies, a first in modern Russia, experts say.
Maria was taken away from him in early March and placed in a local "rehabilitation centre" for minors, with the pair denied contact.
The case has garnered national attention, as Moscow cracks down on criticism of the offensive in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Moskalyov's lawyer Vladimir Biliyenko said he had visited the "rehabilitation centre" the day earlier but the girl was not there.
"It seems that they are hiding Masha," he told AFP, referring to the girl by her diminutive name. He said a lot of supporters wanted to see her, too.
The lawyer also said he was not aware of her 54-year-old father's whereabouts.
"I hope he's alive and well," he added.
Biliyenko said it was now "difficult to predict" what will happen to Maria.
Moskalyov is at risk of losing parental rights in a separate trial set to begin on April 6.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday defended Moskalyov's sentencing, describing the father's parenting as "deplorable".
But in a letter published on social media Maria called her father "the bravest person in the world".
"I love you very much and know that you are not guilty of anything," the letter read.
"Everything will be ok and we will be together. You are my hero," the letter said.
Moskalyov's lawyer confirmed the authenticity of the letter.
The lawyer also criticised Russia's children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova and rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova for not getting involved in the case.
"The fate of a child is being decided here and they are not interested," he said.
A local rights activist, Yelena Agafonova, said she was prepared to take the girl in.
"We will apply for custody of Masha, we are preparing the documents," she told AFP.
She believed the case was a "show case to demonstrate what will happen to those who do not agree" with Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.
Russia's top human rights organisation Memorial, which has been outlawed by the authorities, said it considered Moskalyov a "political prisoner".
Memorial said that his case was "an attempt to intimidate all opponents" of the conflict.


Seven jailed in Belgium terrorism probe: prosecutor

Seven jailed in Belgium terrorism probe: prosecutor
Updated 29 March 2023

Seven jailed in Belgium terrorism probe: prosecutor

Seven jailed in Belgium terrorism probe: prosecutor
  • The seven, five Belgians as well as a Turk and a Bulgarian, were charged with participation in the activities of a terrorist group
  • Five of them were also charged with "preparation of a terrorist offence", the prosecutor said

BRUSSELS: Seven people were imprisoned in Belgium Wednesday in two investigations into “possible terrorist attacks,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.
The seven, five Belgians as well as a Turk and a Bulgarian, were charged with participation in the activities of a terrorist group.
Five of them were also charged with “preparation of a terrorist offense,” the prosecutor said.
Raids were conducted late Monday on homes in the capital Brussels, the port city of Antwerp and the border town of Eupen, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.
Eight were arrested in the raids, but one of the suspects arrested in Antwerp has since been released.
These were in relation to two inquiries — one led by federal police in Brussels and the other by an investigating magistrate in Antwerp.
The parallel investigations triggered a raid in Molenbeek, an inner-city Brussels district that has been the focus of some previous terror probes.
More details of the potential targets of these attacks have not yet been released.
The investigations in Antwerp and Brussels had initially focused on “two young adults suspected of violent radicalism,” state broadcaster RTBF reported.
The country’s biggest ever criminal trial of nine suspects accused of taking part in the March 2016 suicide bombings that killed 32 people is underway in Brussels.


Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died

Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died
Updated 29 March 2023

Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died

Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died
  • Child’s father has filed a formal complaint against the hospital
  • Allegations also include standard of care his son received as patient

LONDON: The parents of 5-year-old Muhammad Ayaan, who passed away on March 15 in Sheffield Children’s Hospital, claim they heard medical staff laughing as their son’s life support machine was turned off.

Ayaan had a history of respiratory difficulties as well as a rare genetic condition that causes developmental delays, The Independent reported on Wednesday. He was admitted to the hospital on March 5 with breathing difficulties and died just over a week later. 

“When the machine was switched off at 2:30 a.m., we had a lot of family members there. There was laughter coming from staff members. We were so upset,” Ayaan’s father Haroon Rashid told The Independent.

“There was no one else on the ward apart from the staff and one other small child behind the curtain from us,” he added.

“Surely the staff knew Ayaan’s machine was about to be turned off. They continued laughing after my relative asked them to stop.

“A child’s life was coming to an end. It was highly insensitive. We are living with our son’s loss, but we are very, very angry about how the staff behaved.”

Ayaan’s mother Fakhra Dibi also described a similar incident when she was told that her son’s condition was deteriorating a few days before his death, The Independent reported.

Dibi claims she was given the news in a ward full of laughing staff, with children and other parents in the background.

“My wife rang me crying after the doctor broke the news,” Rashid said.

“They should have taken her to a private room, not told her like that in front of everyone. It’s hugely insensitive,” he added.

Rashid, a taxi driver and father of four, has filed a formal complaint, which also includes allegations about the standards of care during Ayaan’s time in the hospital as well as a claim that he was contacted for a follow-up appointment for his son 10 days after he died.

The 41-year-old further claims that hospital staff had been “dismissive” to some of the concerns he raised about his son during his care, The Independent reported.

“Every day in the treatment of my son, something went wrong. They didn’t listen to my years of experience in caring for my children,” he said.

“I’m not a doctor, but I know my son’s history. From past experience, I knew what treatment my son needed from the outset, but no one listened to me.”

However, Rashid emphasized the previous treatment that his son received as an outpatient from Sheffield Children’s Hospital had been faultless and that his consultants had supported the family throughout.

Rashid said: “We don’t know how we will live without him now our son is gone.

“We worry about what happened to him. We don’t want this to happen to any other child or any other family.

The hospital has promised a “thorough” investigation into the family’s claims.

Dr. Jeff Perring, medical director at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, told The Independent: “I wish to express my deepest condolences to Ayaan’s family for their loss.

“The death of any child is tragic, and I know that my colleagues who treated, and came to know, Ayaan during his short life will share in expressing these condolences.

“The loss of a child while they are a patient at Sheffield Children’s is something we take very seriously.

“Our colleagues pride themselves on providing the best clinical and pastoral care for all children and young people who need it.

“We have received Rashid’s complaint, which is very detailed and complex.

“There will be a thorough internal investigation of the care and treatment Ayaan received at the hospital between 5 and 13 March, which will cover the concerns raised in Mr. Rashid’s complaint.”


Sweden finds woman guilty of war crimes for gruesome photos

Sweden finds woman guilty of war crimes for gruesome photos
Updated 29 March 2023

Sweden finds woman guilty of war crimes for gruesome photos

Sweden finds woman guilty of war crimes for gruesome photos
  • Fatosh Ibrahim who pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to three months in prison
  • The Goteborg District Court said Fatosh Ibrahim “on two occasions published photographs of severed heads impaled on the fence" of a Raqqa roundabout

COPENHAGEN: A Swedish court on Wednesday found a 35-year-old woman guilty of war crimes for posting photos of herself with severed heads that were on display in a Syrian city in 2014.
Fatosh Ibrahim who pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to three months in prison.
The Goteborg District Court said Fatosh Ibrahim “on two occasions published photographs of severed heads impaled on the fence” of a Raqqa roundabout, placed there by Daesh group militants.
Ibrahim used her cell phone to take photos of herself in Raqqa’s Naim Square — meaning “Paradise” — where Daesh group militants had displayed hanged bodies or heads.
The court said in its ruling that Ibrahim posted on Facebook “disparaging comments about the people in the photos and expressed that they deserved what they were subjected to.”
“The woman had clearly expressed her sympathy with the actions of the Daesh group, and her actions have been considered to be in connection with the armed conflict that was going on in the area at the time.”
Ibrahim told the court that she traveled to Syria in December 2012 and was forced to stay, claiming she didn’t travel to Syria to join the by Daesh group. She returned to Sweden in 2017, according to the verdict.
Ibrahim was also convicted of threatening and defaming social workers in Sweden.