UK to take in more refugee children from war zones

Britain has said it will rehabilitate more refugee children from war zones, in addition to the 20,000 refugees the country has already pledged to take across the world.
The UK Home office will work with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to bring unaccompanied refugee children to the UK but has rejected calls to resettle 3,000 children living unaccompanied in Europe.
"The UK government takes its responsibility in asylum cases involving children very seriously," said UK immigration minister James Brokenshire.
"Ensuring their welfare and safety is at the heart of every decision made.. So we have asked the UNHCR to identify the exceptional cases where a child's best interests are served by resettlement to the UK and help us to bring them here," Brokenshire said.

The UK has pledged to take 20,000 refugees from Syria by 2020 and the children from war zones, whose exact number remains unclear, will be in addition to this figure.
A new 10 million pound fund will be established by the Department for International Development (DfiD) to support migrant and refugee children in Europe, the UK Home Office said.

"The crisis in Syria and events in the Middle East, north Africa and beyond have separated a large number of refugee children from their families. The vast majority are better off staying in the region so they can be reunited with surviving family members," Brokenshire said.

British charity, Save the Children, wants the UK to admit at least 3,000 young people who have reached Europe from countries such as Syria and Afghanistan.
The reason the charity is keen for children to be taken from Europe is because a third of the refugee children coming to the continent go missing - most having been captured by child traffickers.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has been under increasing pressure to expand the UK's response to the migrant crisis in Europe, triggered by hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflicts such as in Syria and Libya.
Opposition Labour party has suggested some people should be allowed into the country from makeshift camps in Calais, France.

The UK government says some migrants in Europe could be allowed to come to Britain under the terms of the Dublin Convention on asylum, if they already have family members living lawfully in the country.