Deborah McMillan made the comments following a ‘positive event’ with Lord Alf Dubs, at which Islanders and Senator Sam Mézec joined Lord Dubs in speaking out in favour of welcoming unaccompanied child refugees to the Island.
‘At this stage, what we would like from government, and what I would like to ask the Chief Minister, is to give a firm commitment that, yes, we will accept refugee children in the Island,’ she said.
‘This does not mean that we are going to accept hordes of them, or that it will happen next week. We are simply talking about a medium- to longer-term plan, in which Jersey plays its part.
‘I know we are a small island, and [compared to larger jurisdictions] it might be a much smaller part that we play, which might mean only hosting a handful of children. But that is a handful less children who are living in absolutely desperate conditions in the camps.’
The States press office confirmed that Chief Minister John Le Fondré had been in a meeting with Lord Dubs to discuss this issue on Friday last week.
Commenting on possible practical considerations, Mrs McMillan added that Senator Mézec had alluded to potential amendments to Jersey legislation that might need to be made.
‘I understand from what Senator Mézec said last night that one of the barriers is a very practical legal barrier,’ she said. ‘I do not have the depth of legal knowledge to be able to explain that – others can do that – but it is clear that we would need to find a way around it.’
When asked about Lord Dubs’ message to Islanders concerning the importance of winning ‘public opinion’ on this issue, she said that people in Jersey appeared to be divided in their views. ‘I think it is fair to say that public opinion is split on this issue,’ she said. ‘Certainly, those who attended the Lord Dubs event were very forward-thinking and were looking at the barriers and coming up with a range of practical solutions. Equally, though, I have been looking at social media, where a different part of our society are coming up with lots of different opinions, reasons and rationales about why we should not be having refugee children in the Island.’
She added that the best way to discuss the issue was to ensure that the facts were understood, and to explain how the Dubs scheme would work, whereby the UK received child refugees under the terms of an amendment by Lord Dubs.
‘It is important for people to know the facts, such as how these children are screened in refugee camps and matched very carefully to families before they come across,’ she added.
