Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

1,800+ refugee children have safely and legally entered the UK from Greece, Italy and Spain through routes that ‘Safe Passage’ has opened for them. Working in Northern France, it is asking the home secretary to ensure that unaccompanied child refugees are not Brexit victims. As the UK’s EU exit is debated, little thought has been given to unaccompanied refugee children hoping to join their families in the UK. A no-deal Brexit, or a Brexit that does not consider their situation, means that under current EU law children could no longer access a safe and legal route. They might have to risk their lives in the hands of smugglers and traffickers. The only way to guarantee that Brexit does not leave them separated from their loved ones is for the Government to commit to maintaining the current family reunion safe passage arrangements from day one if the UK exits the EU.

We know that Jesus came to transform our brokenness, and, as His representatives on earth, we carry His mandate. But how do we address the huge issue of mental health? Emerge Advocacy has been taking on the challenge. Launched in Guildford in 2016, Emerge is a ‘voice of hope’ to young people who find themselves overwhelmed by their thoughts and feelings and unable to keep themselves safe. Teams in A&E departments bringing comfort, hope and peace to young people admitted after self-harming or a suicide attempt. They have already supported over 350 young people, and their work is recognised by the Care Quality Commission. Young people struggling to articulate thoughts and feelings to health professionals may feel intimidated by the clinical environment. Volunteers stay with them, reassuring them, chatting, explaining what is happening, and helping them engage with health professionals, so that the experience is not so overwhelming.

Lord Carey has launched a judicial review against the Home Office, claiming it has discriminated against Christian Syrian refugees. He writes, ‘War in Syria has reignited. Once again refugees fill its roads in need of our compassion. Yet those from the “wrong faith” won’t find it from the British government. The UK’s resettlement of 16,000 refugees from the earlier conflict saw hardly any from the most brutalised minorities reach safety in our land. Of the refugees who came here in 2015 under the Vulnerable Persons Scheme, only 1.6% were Christians - despite being 10% of the Syrian population. The situation for Christians seeking asylum has worsened. In 2016 only 0.4% were Christians; in 2017, 0.2%. In the early part of last year none of the 1,112 refugees we took in were Christians.’

A cross-party group (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/30/assisted-dying-laws-are-in-need-of-review) of 20+ MPs want the law banning euthanasia to be reviewed. The current law punishes assisted suicide with up to fourteen years’ imprisonment. However, committing the offence may not automatically result in prosecution. Consideration must be made whether a prosecution is in the public interest. There is a lobby of campaigners and individuals who are determined to see some form of assisted suicide introduced in the UK. - Dignity in Dying. Nearly all pain can be alleviated to some degree through medicine and palliative care. When patients’ physical, social, psychological and spiritual needs are properly met, suicide requests are extremely rare. The UK is a world leader in the provision of palliative care, and we should build on this legacy. If we permit assisted suicide, the right to die will soon become a duty to die for some of the most vulnerable in our society. 

A ‘safer custody’ telephone line for families to flag up concerns about a prisoner's physical or mental health was a key recommendation in a review commissioned by the Government, but research shows hotlines were not answered or had not been set up in over one third of jails. Most emergency calls went to an answering machine. Figures for the twelve months to June 2019 revealed 86 self-inflicted deaths, up from 81 in 2018, and 57,968 incidents of self-harm, an increase of 24% on the previous year. Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust (PRT), said the problem is a very long way from being solved. It demands action now, as lives depend on it. The PRT said poor arrangements for families to get in touch with prisons had been identified in inquests into the deaths of prisoners.

A survey of 1,400 women with Down’s syndrome babies found that 69% were offered a termination. Nearly half who wanted to continue with the pregnancy were asked again. 91% were offered further tests after discovering a high chance of Down's. Of those who declined further tests, 44% were pressurised regardless. One mother said that, even though they made it clear that wasn't an option for them, professionals pushed them about fifteen times to terminate. ‘At 38 weeks they said if I changed my mind on the morning of the induction to let them know, because it wasn't too late; until the baby had started travelling down the birth canal, I could still terminate.’ Millions of pounds are poured into refining the Down’s screening process, whilst £5.33 per person per year is spent on research to improve the lives of people with Down's syndrome.

Prime minister Phuc has asked the public security and foreign ministries to investigate the trafficking of Vietnamese citizens into foreign countries after 39 people died in a refrigerated truck in Essex. Vietnam’s UK embassy and the British authorities are identifying the dead. Rural Vietnamese believe many of the dead came from their poor, rice-growing areas where families pay traffickers to take their youths abroad to work, save, repay traffickers the debt, and return home with enough money to buy land and build a home. The newly-built houses in poor districts are evidence of the money to be made, and saved, by working overseas (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50203096) Father Anthony Dang Huu Nam believes most of the dead were from his parish. ‘The whole district is covered in sorrow,’ Nam said, as prayers rang out over the town on loudspeakers. ‘This is a catastrophe for our community.’ See https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-bodies/rural-vietnamese-mourn-loved-ones-feared-dead-in-back-of-british-truck-idUSKBN1X503U

Pastor Toby leads Spacnation South London, a faith-based organisation committed to transforming the lives of young people. In a generation where many young people have been dejected, abused and simply overlooked, Spacnation offers an alternative, whilst changing the narrative of this generation one step at a time. They are rescuing people from gangs, from addiction and from fear, with over one hundred baptised each week. They have set up 23 safe houses for gang members who are willing to turn their life around and escape from a life of crime; they say their safe houses are homes full of fun, food and fascinating stories. Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has backed the initiative, saying the safe houses seem to be working and are part of a solution. See

On 31 October 1917 Britain answered God’s call to facilitate Israel’s restoration to her ancient homeland, as Cyrus did in the 6th century BC. Britain was then considered a Christian nation, where the idea of restoring the Jewish people to their ancient homeland had been alive for 200 years. The Church understood that God had covenanted the land of Israel to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as an everlasting possession. In 1917 the Balfour Declaration was agreed, and Britain liberated Beersheba from Ottoman Turkish control - the first stage in ensuring that the exiles could freely return. However, in February 2019 the EU and the League of Arab States identified Israel’s settlements as ‘illegal’. Britain agreed with this stance, even though the Geneva Convention states that ‘there is no binding agreement in international law that designates the disputed territories as belonging to the Palestinians’.

On 23 October 39 migrants, including one teenager, were found frozen to death in a refrigerated container (temperature -25C) on an Essex industrial estate. The truck carrying the container entered the UK from Dublin four days earlier. The driver, from Northern Ireland, was arrested on suspicion of murder, even though he may have been the one who alerted the authorities. Local MP Jackie Doyle-Price said, ‘Putting 39 people into a locked metal container shows a contempt for human life that is evil. The best way to honour their memory is to bring the perpetrators to justice.’ The cab was registered in Bulgaria under a company owned by an Irish woman, with possible links to a smuggling route and to Irish Republican gangs. Pray for the victims to be quickly identified and families sensitively alerted, and for those responsible to be brought to justice. See also the next article.