North West Migrants Forum backs call for Palestinian family reunion scheme

THE North West Migrants Forum has added its voice to growing calls for a Gaza Family Scheme to be created in the UK.

A total of 75 groups, law centres, law firms and funders have today (April 2) written to Home Secretary James Cleverly asking that he put in place a channel which would enable family members of Palestinians in the UK to reunite with their loved ones and offer temporary sanctuary until it is safe to return.

A petition calling for the same has already attracted close to 60,000 signatures. Once it reaches 100,000 names, Parliament is duty-bound to consider it for debate.

**The letter has gone to Home Secretary James Cleverly. Photo: Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street**

The letter, sent at 3.30pm this afternoon, reads as follows:

Dear Home Secretary,

On behalf of behalf of 75 organisations, law centres, law firms, and funders working in the migrants’ (including refugees’), children’s, and human rights’ sectors across the UK, we are calling for you to urgently create a Gaza Family Scheme to enable family members of Palestinians in the UK to reunite with their loved ones and offer temporary sanctuary until it is safe to return.

With each passing hour, the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate – both due to bombardment as well as lack of access to food or medication. More than 30,000 people have been killed – a third of whom are children – with many more remaining uncounted while trapped under the rubble. Palestinians are currently bracing for Israel’s threatened ground assault on Rafah – formerly claimed as a ‘safe zone’ for civilians – in spite of widespread international outcry, including on the part of the British Government.

Existing immigration routes are insufficient and not working. Palestinians eligible under existing routes cannot make an immigration application to be cleared for entry to the UK unless they have enrolled their biometrics. However, the only visa application centres where Palestinians can actually do so are in Egypt. Unlike in the case of British nationals, for whom the British Government has facilitated evacuation to Egypt, the British Government is not facilitating safe passage for Palestinians in Gaza seeking to reunite with their family members in the UK. Palestinians in Gaza are thus trapped in a catch-22: the British Government is demanding that they register biometrics, but it is denying them a viable way of doing so.

Many families are now being forced to set up crowdfunders in the sum of tens of thousands of pounds to arrange for their loved ones to be evacuated to Egypt by a private company. While it is possible to apply to defer or waive biometric requirements, despite the clearly dangerous (and in some cases, virtually impossible) journey involved in enrolling biometrics in Egypt, almost all of these applications are rejected. Two people have been killed while waiting for a decision on their family reunion visa under existing routes. Even if families are able to pay for their loved ones’ evacuation into Egypt, not all family members are eligible under existing routes and those who are have to pay additional, extortionate visa fees.

It is in this context that Palestinian families in the UK have called for a Gaza Family Scheme alongside a permanent and immediate ceasefire (supported by 71% of the British public, according to a recent poll). Modelled after the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Gaza Family Scheme would enable Palestinians in Gaza to reunite with their immediate and extended family members in the UK – including their partners, children, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, cousins, grandparents, and in-laws – until it is safe to return. It would also include provision for safe evacuation and biometric waiver/deferral, as was done for those fleeing Ukraine. Palestinians arriving on this scheme, as with the Ukrainian Family Scheme, would be able to work, study, and access public funds in the UK while they are granted temporary sanctuary here.

Over 56,000 members of the British public have supported a petition calling for a Gaza Family Scheme to be introduced in the UK. In our view, a Gaza Family Scheme is long overdue to protect human life and the right to family unity until it is safe for Palestinians to return. We, therefore, support the Gaza Families Reunited Campaign in its calls for such a scheme to be implemented with urgency.

Best regards,

Signatories

Read the full list of those supporting the call initiated by Gaza Families Reunited here: