- “The refugee children in Calais smell tear gas - instead of smelling tooth paste - before going to bed. And instead of hearing lullabies they hear their parents crying in a dark tent on a cold winter’s night.” (Fatema, a woman living in the Calais Refugee Camp)
- “I don't know how David Cameron sleeps at night.” (Julie Ward, North West Labour, MEP and co-founder of the Childrens’ Rights Intergroup, Brussels)
“I want to ask the UK and USA governments: what do human's rights really mean? what do women's rights mean?!!!”
Fatima goes on to explain:
“I did not have a chance pursue my ambition to go to university, but you, Mr Cameron and Mr Obama, I know you are educated. I want to know: does human rights just mean sending soldiers to Afghanistan? Why doesn’t human rights mean helping Afghan refugees when they are out of Aghanistan?! “
“When refugee children in the Calais jungle grow up, they will remember the meaning of Human's Rights in the cold winter of 2016: instead of sleeping in a warm bed after a long journey they have to be woken up all night until morning because they are trying to cross to the UK. They have to smell tear gas instead of smelling the smell of tooth paste before going to bed. And instead of hearing lullabies they hear their parents crying in a dark tent on a cold winter’s night.”
Labour MEP Julie Ward, one of the original signatories to the Pledge (launched in Calais on 13th December 2015 (https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/show-solidarity-with-refugees-uk-calais-and-europe), member of FEMM, the European Parliament’s Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, and co-founder of the Children's European Parliament Inter Group on Children’s Rights (the equivalent of a Select Committee) reacted to Fatemah’s words:
“I don't know how David Cameron sleeps at night.”
A RAPAR spokesperson adds:
“In January 2016 alone, the International Office of Migration described upwards of 60 children dying as they crossed into Europe from Turkey. The children in the Calais camp are among the survivors – so far. Every day that passes where these refugee people are denied their right to claim asylum where they want to be, deepens the mockery of the claim that Britain safeguards children, at home or abroad.”
ENDS
Background
(http://www.rapar.org.uk/calais.html) For RAPAR’s previous press releases about Calais
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/show-solidarity-with-refugees-uk-calais-and-europe) For Pledge launched on 13th December 2015
(http://www.juliewardmep.eu/julie_ward_visits_refugees_at_the_camp_in_calais) For Julie Ward’s posts on Calais
For more information contact:
Dr Rhetta Moran, RAPAR, 07776264646/ [email protected]