Lily Allen is right – we are failing child refugees and we should be apologising

Amber Rudd’s announcement to transfer as many lone child refugees as possible before the Calais camp is demolished was welcomed – but failed to include exactly how and when many children are to be rescued from the refugee camp

Lily Allen has been criticised after apologising to a child refugee (Getty)

The UK is failing to help unaccompanied child refugees by taking months to process applications to allow them legal access to the UK. It’s been over two months since both UK and French authorities were presented with a list of lone children who are eligible to come to the UK, three months since the demolition of the refugee camp was announced and almost six months since an amendment was passed forcing the government to accept more child refugees.

But sure, let’s save our anger for a celebrity who has shown genuine emotion when faced with the realities of the refugee crisis. How dare Lily Allen be empathetic towards a child refugee.

Allen’s interview with the boy from Afghanistan further confirmed what we all know: the legal process refugees have to go through to enter the UK is too slow and is forcing children to risk their lives. Our government has made a number of commitments to relocate unaccompanied minors to the UK, but the speed at which applications are being processed is failing these children in every way – Stella Creasy pointed out during PMQs this week that 18 of these children have gone missing since the pledge to bring them to the UK was made.

Lily Allen couldn’t have been more right to apologise to a refugee “on behalf of the UK”. The child, who has fled Afghanistan and who continues to risk his life by trying to board lorries, has the legal right to be in our country – yet he is still stuck in the Calais Jungle, at great risk every single day.

Under the EU’s Dublin III regulation, unaccompanied minors with family members in the UK can legally have their asylum applications transferred to the UK. Family members include parents, legal guardians, siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents.

Even without family in the UK, unaccompanied minors should be welcomed into our country. Under the Dubs amendment to the Immigration Bill, put forward by Labour peer Lord Alf Dubs who came to the UK as a refugee on the Kindertransport programme during World War Two, the government is committed to relocating 3,000 unaccompanied and vulnerable children to the UK.

The home secretary Amber Rudd’s announcement to transfer as many lone child refugees as possible before the Calais camp is demolished was welcomed by many – but failed to include exactly how many children are to be rescued from the refugee camp and when this would happen.

While members of the public and the right-wing media are falling over themselves to slam Allen and her apparent disregard for the rest of the country by rudely apologising to a child who has been forced to flee his home, I remain hopeful that the media attention will encourage the UK government to stop dragging its feet when accepting unaccompanied children.

Allen speaks on behalf of all those who don’t think that the UK government is doing enough to speed up application processes to provide unaccompanied children with a safe home. With only a matter of days until demolition of the “Jungle” starts, the government needs now more than ever to take immediate responsibility for these child refugees.

The uproar surrounding her comments, instead of anger at the inaction and lack of urgency by the UK government, highlights an ugly lack of empathy towards refugees, and if you think that Lily Allen using her celebrity status and platform to apologise “on behalf” of British people is the worst part of the current refugee crisis, then you’re missing the point.