Stories
of children
in a Palestinian
refugee camp.
This Save the Children project web site shows their lives and includes
recipes and a quiz. There is a message board that the children in the
camp also have access to. The teachers' resources have good ideas for
group nights.
Approximately 35 million people worldwide have been forced to leave their homes due to persecution or war.
15 million have sought refuge in another country.
52% of these refugees are children.
Refugees are entitled to international protection by the 1951 Refugee Convention (signed by 141 states). However many countries are making it as difficult as possible for asylum seekers to enter their countries and to remain there once they have arrived.
Many refugees are kept in detention centres on arrival, for example in the United Kingdom 1,500 asylum seekers are detained each year.
In Britain a system is in place where refugees are issued with vouchers that can only be exchanged for food. This has come under attack from many human rights groups as it stigmatises refugees. The government are now phasing it out and vouchers should be gone completely by autumn 2002.
Instead of this system refugees will be kept in new 'accommodation' or 'reception' centres. Here they will receive food, lodging and a small 'value of living' cash allowance. These centres will not be locked as the detention centres are but if refugees turn down places in them they will forfeit their right to benefits or support.
The UK Government made a 'reservation' when it ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989 meaning that child refugees are not protected by the Convention when they arrive in Britain.
This means that they are very vulnerable as they can be treated differently from all other children within the UK and there is nothing safe guarding their welfare and needs as children. Here one young asylum seeker, Bek, aged 17, from Mitrovica, Kosovo, writes about her experience*:
"Things became really bad when I was 15. My family wanted me to leave because they knew it wasn't safe for me. They are in Bosnia now. I really miss my family, I haven't had contact with them for five months.
I wanted to go to Switzerland because I have some cousins there. I didn't know that I was going to England.
We travelled on three different lorries altogether. We were happy to get away from the war, though we were scared about the next part too. The journey to England took three days. We didn't have any food, we had nothing.
Mila and I were given a room to stay in by social services. But since then I have moved about four or five times. Social services give us £35 a week. It's enough to buy food, but not clothes.
When I first arrived in England I wanted to go back again - not back to Kosovo, but to Switzerland - and I found that it wasn't possible. People are really not friendly to me here.
The most difficult thing is learning the language, and communicating with people. It is very hard. And there are so many forms to fill out. But I have been treated well by social services. I don't know if it is like that for everybody.
I want to go back to Kosovo. I hope that I can go back next year. I might go to university but I might not. I don't know if it will be safe to go back next year - maybe war will start again.
I am still waiting to see if I can stay in Britain. I'm waiting to hear from the Home Office whether I have to go back or whether I can have refugee status. I don't know when I will find out."
* Reproduced by kind permission of Oxfam GB
- Frequently asked questions about refugees and asylum seekers answered by the Refugee Council
