A group of Afghan families who were brought to London after the Taliban took power are suing the government because a subsequent move north meant their children had to drop out of a local school while pursuing GCSEs.
Four families have been moved from a London hotel to one in northern England.
A lack of school places near their new temporary home has set back the young people’s education since then, the families say.
The interior ministry said it was trying to find permanent shelters for Afghans.
In a two-day hearing next week in the High Court, Afghan lawyers will argue that the Home Office failed to address the impact of the hotel move on children’s schooling.
Teachers at Ark Walworth Academy in south London enrolled some of the children who were staying at a nearby hotel – and they had started working towards their GCSEs.
But in August 2022, Home Office officials told families they would move to new accommodation if the government stopped using the hotel to house refugees.
The Afghans received a text message with details of their new home, which BBC News has been unable to locate due to a court order.
- How many Afghan refugees has the UK resettled?
- A Year of Finding Certainty – Afghan Refugees in Britain
One of the girls, Marzia, 15, is now taking online lessons from teachers at Ark Walworth Academy at her hotel.
Her classmate Najma, 15, has found a school but has to repeat 10th grade.
Marzia said: “They told us they would put us in a good school. You broke your promise. The hotel is like a prison.
“A hotel is a good place, but for a holiday – not for almost two years.”
Ark Walworth Academy principal Jessica West said the school was “more than happy to provide them with an education on a temporary basis”.
“What’s difficult is seeing them move from a precarious situation where we’ve done everything we can to support them, to another situation that’s not permanent and just as precarious,” she added.
Lawyers for Afghans say the Interior Ministry is required under the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act to “protect and promote the well-being of children” when making an immigration decision.
But court documents suggest the Home Office will argue that a decision to put refugees between two ‘bridge’ hotels in the UK is not an immigration decision.
Afghan families’ lawyer, Daniel Rourke of the Public Law Project, said he hoped his clients could win the case and return to south London.
“They were promised a warm welcome and it is quite chilling to now hear the Home Secretary argue in court that she owes no duty to consider the best interests of the children affected by this important decision to uproot and relocate them Hundreds of miles to live temporarily in an airport,” Rourke said.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The UK is proud to have already provided homes to almost 7,400 Afghan evacuees through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Resettlement and Assistance Policy. While hotels do not offer a long-term solution, they do offer a reasonable solution of space and safe and clean accommodation.
“We will continue to reduce the number of people in bridge hotels and relocate people to more sustainable accommodation.”
Add Comment