Many people seeking asylum in the UK are mothers fleeing war, persecution, rape and other torture.

To protect themselves and their children, mothers are often forced to leave their children behind usually they dont know where they are going or how they will survive.

Mothers may lose contact with children back home or hear of them unprotected and suffering, and can do little to prevent it.

It can take many years for an asylum claim to be settled; meanwhile: children suffer the torture of being deprived of their mothers love and care, left destitute, at risk of sexual and other violence; mothers are treated as single people and the pain of separation and of trying to be a carer long distance is invisible and unrecognised.

When mothers win the right to stay, most are not automatically granted the right of family reunion. If children turn 18 while their mothers application is being considered they lose the right to join their mother.

* We are a mothers campaign, so we speak particularly of mothers, the primary carers in every society, but we know that the problems and heartbreak we describe are often true of fathers, grandparents & other carers.

WE DEMAND THAT:
1. Everyone who wins the right to stay in the UK, no matter under which law or convention, must have the unconditional right to family reunion.

2. Children should have the right to join their mother or father even if they turned 18 before their parents asylum claim was settled.