UK ending child refugee program proposed by Kindertransport passenger

Former British MK Alf Dubs urges government not to scrap initiative in March after only resettling 350 children

By JTA 10 February 2017, 5:41 am
This file photo taken on May 4, 2016 shows Lord Alfred Dubs as he poses for a portrait outside The Palace of Westminster in central London. (AFP/Adrian Dennis)

Britain is ending a program to take in child refugees proposed by a politician who arrived in the country by Kindertransport during World War II.

Proponents of the program had wanted the United Kingdom to take in as many as 3,000 lone child refugees, but the government said Wednesday that the initiative would end in March after the resettling of 350 children, according to The Guardian.

Alf Dubs, who was born in Czechoslovakia and arrived in London as a child by way of the Kindertransport rescue effort, proposed the program in the House of Lords last year.

Dubs, who previously served in the House of Commons for the Labour Party, called on Prime Minister Theresa May not to end the program, The Guardian reported.

People look at flowers laid in memory of Britain’s Sir Nicholas Winton on German-born Jewish sculptor Frank Meisler’s ‘Kindertransport’ (German for children transport) memorial statue outside Liverpool Street Station in London, Thursday, July 2, 2015. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

“During the Kindertransport, Sir Nicky Winton rescued 669 children from Nazi persecution virtually singlehandedly,” he said, referring to an English rescuer of Jewish children during World War II. “I was one of those lucky ones. It would be a terrible betrayal of his legacy if as a country we were unable to do more than this to help a new generation of refugees.”

Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill said local authorities had stated that they could only resettle 400 unaccompanied child refugees until the end of March and the government had never committed to taking in a specific number of children.

read more: