Imagine being a child, taken thousands of miles from home, and arriving in a foreign land. You may not have wanted to travel to this new land; it may have been forced upon you by your parents. But now you have arrived via an arduous journey across choppy seas in a small boat not fit for purpose.
You are sat in a room with rows of seats where other children sit waiting to talk to someone. You see the walls; some cartoon characters are painted on them—you recognise Mickey Mouse. You may feel less stressed as you try to fathom what is happening. But only a little.
When a child arrives in the UK, they are taken to a reception centre in Dover. Until last week, this centre had cartoon murals on its walls. Allegedly, Robert Jenrick (Conservative) the Minister of State for Immigration, ordered the child asylum unit murals to be painted over. He is quoted as saying they were “too welcoming.”
Too welcoming!!!
Children have a welfare interview on their arrival in the UK, which includes questions designed to identify potential indicators of trafficking or safeguarding issues. OK, that sounds fine. Trafficking etc. needs to be stopped. But there are many reasons families leave their countries to find a better place to live—I should say, a potentially better place.
- Is one reason for seeking a new life because of those wonderfully welcoming murals? “It must be a great place to live because Mickey Mouse looks happy there.” No!
- Will removing the murals lead to fewer arrivals? No!
- Is this an excessive use of power to convince others that you are “hard on migration?” Yes!
- Is this a desperate ploy to gain voters? Yes!
- Is this right in any form? No!
Look, I could go on. However, many have written about this in more detail and using better terminology than me.
But here is a thought.
All I can ask is to put yourself in a frightened child’s place and sit on a bench without your family, whom you might never see again. Waiting for someone to interrogate you. How would you feel?
Would it help if the room was made more welcoming?
Don’t answer this as an adult. Think back to the day you got into trouble at school or elsewhere.
Footnotes:
1: I feel this is unfinished
2: I do not like the conservative party, having voted for them up to the 1997 general election. I could no longer defend their decision-making. I worked in care for a while and saw first-hand what the 1990 community care act did to the industry. When thousands of council homes became private and suddenly profit was more important than giving elderly residents the best quality available.