The children’s commissioner for Scotland has reiterated concerns over the treatment of asylum seeker children who face deportation following a dawn raid on family in Glasgow, writes Maria Ahmed.
Kosovar asylum seekers Isen and Nexhi Vucaj, and their three children aged 13, 16 and 18-years-old, were taken from their home this week after their asylum application was turned down.
The family, who came to Britain in 2000, were said to be still fearful of reprisals if returned to Kosovo.
Kathleen Marshall called on the government to stop dawn raids and to give “urgent” consideration to alternatives to detention.
“I find it difficult to contemplate that anyone could justify allowing uniformed strangers to wake children in their beds, handcuff their parents in front of them and remove them in a manner that shuts off any possibility of gathering treasured belongings and saying good-bye to their friends,” she said.
Marshall suggested there should be an “amnesty” for asylum-seeker families that had been in the UK for a “considerable” time, and argued that no children should be removed from their parents because of destitution.
“Whatever is done to address this must respect the human rights and dignity of everyone involved, and international commitments such as the refugee conventions, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,” Marshall added.
Marshall is currently leading a joint campaign on the rights of young asylum seekers with the three other UK children’s commissioners.
