Children fleeing countries scarred by war, governed by oppressive military regimes and overrun by extremists are among the hundreds who have sought refuge in Croydon.

Natives of Albania, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Vietnam make up the majority of the 469 unaccompanied young asylum-seekers currently being looked after by Croydon Council. 

The number taken into the council's care each month has trebled since April, while the total looked after has grown by 21 per cent in the last year.

The Home Office in July cut the financial support paid to the council to care for child asylum-seekers by a fifth, equivalent to a loss of about £4m a year, it emerged this week.

FROM WEDNESDAY: Home Office cuts Croydon's asylum-seeker funding by £4m amid refugee crisis

LAST WEEK: 'I'd open my home to refugees': Croydon MPs react to migrant crisis

Croydon, which homes the UK's only asylum screening unit at Lunar House in Wellesley Road, is one of three "gateway" councils to receive special Government funding to look after children from overseas.

The borough has more young asylum-seekers in its care than every other council except Kent.

Nearly half of them - 229 - are Albanian, according to council data.

Some are suspected victims of child trafficking, while other Albanian asylum-seekers are fleeing persecution and poverty.

Eighty-four of the children being looked after by the council were born in Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents remain a widespread threat.

Children from Eritrea, a country accused by the Union Nations of "gross human rights violations", make up the third largest group of asylum-seekers in Croydon's care.

The East African state, which was ravaged by a bloody 30-year battle for independence, conscripts citizens into the military indefinitely in conditions described by the UN as "slave-like".

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Croydon charity worker Jad Adams provides supplies to Syrian refugee children on Greek island Leros last week

In total, children seeking asylum from 27 countries - also including Syria, Iran, North Korea and the Democratic Republic of Congo - are in the council's care.

Council leader Tony Newman yesterday called for the Government to "do the right thing" and restore the borough's funding as the UK prepares to take in 20,000 refugees from Syria.

The council received about £20m in 2014/15 for caring for young asylum-seekers and has calculated it would get £16m if the number of children remained the same.

Coun Newman said: "Many people in Croydon want to help and that is great - the community feels very strongly - but our job as a council is to make sure that the funding is in place for those in need and there is not more pressure on local people in terms of that funding."
 


via chartsbin.com