refugee kids
© www.catholicherald.co.ukSyrian refugee children, two of thousands of innocent victims in dire need.
The British government is reportedly considering plans to allow thousands of unaccompanied refugee children into the UK within weeks. The idea comes amid mounting pressure on ministers to provide refuge for large numbers of young people fleeing war in their homelands without their parents, according to the Guardian.

Downing Street said the government was looking at calls from charities, led by 'Save the Children', for the UK to admit at least 3,000 unaccompanied young people who have arrived in Europe from countries including Syria and Afghanistan, and who are judged to be at serious risk of falling prey to people traffickers. Government sources said such a humanitarian gesture would be in addition to the 20,000 refugees the UK has already agreed to accept, mainly from camps on the borders of Syria, by 2020.

Following a visit to refugee camps in Calais and Dunkirk on Saturday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called on PM David Cameron to offer children not just a refuge in the UK but proper homes and education, equivalent to the welcome received by those rescued from the Nazis and brought to the UK in 1939.

"We must reach out the hand of humanity to the victims of war and brutal repression," he said. "Along with other EU states, Britain needs to accept its share of refugees from the conflicts on Europe's borders, including the horrific civil war in Syria," said Corbyn.

"We have to do more. As a matter of urgency, David Cameron should act to give refuge to unaccompanied refugee children now in Europe - as we did with Jewish Kindertransport children escaping from Nazi tyranny in the 1930s. And the government must provide the resources needed for those areas accepting refugees - including in housing and education - rather than dumping them in some of Britain's poorest communities."

With one week of January to go, about 37,000 asylum seekers and refugees have already arrived in the EU by land or sea, roughly 10 times the equivalent total for the month last year. EU nations are, however, deeply divided over how to respond to the crisis, with several, including Germany, France, Sweden and Austria, setting up emergency border checks under special powers that expire in May.

Aid agencies and charities are also reporting that different messages coming out of EU capitals are creating confusion among migrants. Last week, after Austria placed a cap on the number of refugees it would take, aid workers said such announcements spread panic among refugees and made them more desperate to make their journeys before Europe's doors closed.