Lord Alf Dubs, who fled Prague in 1939 as part of the Kindertransport, said many of the people fleeing for safety in the UK are ‘escaping the most terrible of situations’
A Labour peer who fled the Nazis as a child has warned the summer has been a “disaster” for human rights amid a toxic row over asylum seekers.
It comes after Reform UK leader Nigel Farage outlined draconian plans last week to deport those seeking refuge after months of focus on hotels housing asylum seekers in Britain. Lord Alf Dubs, who fled Prague in 1939 as part of the Kindertransport, said the argument for “morality” had to be won back. He told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “We have to get public opinion on our side.
“Many of the people fleeing for safety in this country are escaping the most terrible of situations. I remember a Syrian boy telling me he’d seen his father blown up in front of him in Aleppo. Terrible experiences. When people know what people have been through they are much more sympathetic that when they simply see films of people coming by boat.
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Lord Dubs warned: “I do think we have to argue for morality. As a country we’re based on morality and this country saved my life, and is saving the lives of other people. But we have to understand what it is people are fleeing from, the dangers they are facing.
“I’m afraid the summer has been a disaster from the point of view of human rights because the only voices we’ve heard are the voices on the other side. I think we have to win that argument back.”
It comes as Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, prepares to deliver a statement later today to tighten rules for migrants granted asylum bringing their families to the UK. The BBC said the Cabinet minister will set out criteria for family members and outline reforms to the asylum appeals process.
The Labour MP Jake Richards added: “We definitely do have to win the argument because if me and Alf and the Labour party don’t win that argument then these issues are going to be in the hands of Nigel Farage and Reform. This is about changing our asylum system, making it fit for purpose, sorting out the immigration issue so we can stay true to those fundamental values of human rights.
Lord Dubs also warned against amending or withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights – or the Refugee Convention. He said: “Those are two fundamental human rights principles after all we were founding members. Winston Churchill himself was keen on the European Convention on Human Rights.
“I think tinkering with them, or changing them, is a retrograde step and has potential dangers. It’s a British thing. Britain has led the world in human rights. Are we going to step away from that at this point? I hope not.”
It came as the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said on Sunday that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was “committed” to looking at Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) specifically – which protects the right to privacy and family life, as well as home and correspondence.
Opposition parties have pledged to take the UK out of the convention, which critics say would put the UK in the same standing as Russia and Belarus. Ms Phillipson told Sky News: “We do believe there needs to be reform of the ECHR and that’s what the Home Secretary is looking at.
But she added: “But we also believe as a Government that our responsibilities under international law matter too, and our standing in the world matters as well.”
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