The impact of family separation on refugees in the UK Refugees in the UK often find themselves separated from their families by their brutal experiences of conflict and persecution, just at the time when they need each other the most. This separation can drag on for years or sometimes indefinitely because of the UK's restrictive rules on refugee family reunion. This joint report by the Refugee Council and Oxfam is one of the first to look at how family reunion and ongoing forced separation from loved ones affect the ability of refugees to successfully integrate into UK society.

Britain's role in protecting people on the move Across Europe, people who have fled human rights violations, conflict, violence and hardship are living in inhumane conditions, and thousands have drowned trying to reach the continent. The current humanitarian crisis is the result of political failure. The dominant response, based on deterrence and containment, is causing enormous suffering to some of the world's most vulnerable people. While the UK government has been a leader in providing assistance to countries hosting large numbers of refugees, it has fallen short of its moral responsibility to provide safe routes to protection for people seeking refuge in the UK, and has failed to advocate for an approach that protects the rights of all people on the move.

The idea of a united Europe is generally believed to be something positive, especially as it represents values like democracy and tolerance. The practical construct resulting from this idea, the former European Economic Community (EEC), has been created in reaction to the moral, political and economic destruction Europe went through during the Second World War and therefore embodies the “concept of a long-lasting peace (Wallström, 2004). As the EEC has developed from a unity based on economical cooperation into the European Union (EU), a political construct with growing influence on national politics, the question arises whether it is legitimate at all (Obradovic, 1996, p.191).