Category Archives: Uncategorized

Four friends in Athens discuss different words used to describe different legal statuses – ‘refugee’, ‘aslyum seeker’, ‘unaccompanied minor’, ‘migrant’ – what the words mean, how they are often used, and how they can feel.

Veronica (not her real name) shares her experiences fostering Sunflower.

Sunflower (not her real name) is a 16-year-old from Angola who shared her experience being fostered by Veronica in the UK.

Gaz Kishere shares his experience and learning as a practitioner in the field of child trafficking and child sex slavery for over ten years across Europe.

Written by one of the Velos Youth founders, Jonny Willis, this article draws on the work of Velos Youth and highlights some of the current issues affecting homeless children in Greece.

Collected stories of refugees in transit through the Balkans offering insights into practical issues of access to water, accomodation and safety.

In three hours the kittens have their passports and two weeks later they make safe passage by car to their new adoptive family. Meanwhile, waiting times of over a year for unaccompanied minors for safe and legal passage means they risk returning to the unofficial camps to cross in lorries and on boats. Those who do not qualify for family reunification are left with no other option as the Dubs Amendment commitment has not been met, and is now closed.

Preventative measures for the kittens put them immediately out of harms way, whereas unaccompanied minors unable to access safe accommodation face daily risks of police violence, physical abuse, sexual exploitation, emotional abuse, exploitation and human trafficking.

When the kittens get a rash one trip to the vet gets them the medication they need whereas it can take up to several weeks for unaccompanied minors to access health or dental care.

I met Hemin and Ameda, two unaccompanied minors from Kurdistan Iraq living in Dunkirk, around the same time two abandoned kittens were found in the Calais ‘Jungles’. Four months later it was the kittens I was scrambling to get legal passage to safety and saying goodbye to Hemin, Ameda and too many other young people stuck in northern France. Part one of this story focuses on accommodation. [Feature photo credit: Andreas Beissel]