June 2025
What are safe routes?
When conflict or persecution occurs, it is up for other states to help refugees flee by setting up safe and legal routes. Refugees have a right to claim asylum in any state which is a
signatory of the Refugee Convention 1951, which the UK proudly helped draft.
In the cases of Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria and Hong Kong, the UK offers some type of safe route for those fleeing political persecution. The UK currently operates two main safe routes
for asylum seekers and their families: ‘resettlement’ and ‘family reunion’. Read more about these on the next page.
Safe routes stand for a compassionate society that welcomes those seeking safety. They aim to ensure that refugees can access asylum in a dignified and secure manner, in line with
international humanitarian principles and human rights standards.
Background
Conflict and persecution have exacerbated the use of dangerous routes refugees make when forcibly displaced. Many refugees have little choice but to make dangerous journeys such as the small boat crossings across the English Channel. These boats used are often overcrowded and the people on board are at risk of capsizing, hypothermia, and collisions.
The policies of European governments to make asylum difficult pushes refugees into dangerous journeys.
Homes for Ukraine
The Homes for Ukraine scheme enables UK residents to sponsor Ukrainians fleeing the war. Sponsors provide rent-free accommodation and Ukrainian guests are granted visas allowing them to live and work in the UK, with access to public services and benefits. Over 200,000 Ukrainians have arrived under this scheme so far.
Kindertransport
One of the most famous ‘safe routes’ offered in the UK was the Kindertransport, a British scheme to rescue 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied territories. This ‘safe route’ was not operated by the British government but rather by individuals and charities such as World Jewish Relief and Quakers, who acted as ‘guarantors’ for those children.
Why does it matter?
Helen*, a 16-year-old girl fleeing conflict from Eritrea, finally arrived in the UK after a dangerous and difficult boat journey across the English Channel. Despite being only 16, officials from the Home Office arbitrarily decided her age was 22. Helen was placed in accommodation with adult men much older than her, where she felt unsafe. Staff told her that they could not help her with her age. This situation is one of many which could be avoided by the implementation of safe routes.
*Name has been changed.
Safe Routes – Resettlement
Resettlement schemes provide a safe way for refugees and asylum seekers to be relocated to a country that can provide permanent residency and protection. The UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, usually requires two of seven criteria to be sufficient to suggest resettlement for an individual:
- Women and girls who are survivors, or at risk of, gender-based violence.
- Children and young people at risk where resettlement is in their best interests.
- Survivors of violence and/or torture.
- Medical needs, especially those that cannot be met in the country the person is currently in.
- Restoring family unity where there are no other mechanisms to reunite.
- Lack of alternative durable solutions.
Resettlements have severely shrunk since covid, with no indication by the government that these figures will be brought up. Since 2020 the government has reneged on its commitment to fulfilling its quota for resettlement, as set by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Safe Routes – Refugee Family Reunion
It is very common for families to be separated during forced displacement. As such, the UK allows refugees to sponsor a family member to be able to join them. However, the definition of family which the Home Office uses, is unfairly strict. For example, a child refugee in the UK is not allowed to be reunited with a parent if they are not already in the UK. This makes the UK one of the only European countries – along with Switzerland and Liechtenstein – which does not allow refugee children the simple mechanism to ask to be reunited with their family. The current mechanism for family reunion only allows adult refugees to sponsor a spouse or a child under 18. They cannot sponsor other family members they care for, such as an elderly parent.
The Government’s Line
The government do not plan to expand safe routes. Instead, they have stated an aim to deter
refugees from claiming asylum in the UK. There is no evidence to support the claim that their
harsh treatment of refugees and asylum seekers serves as a deterrent for people seeking
refuge and asylum to make the journey to the UK. Even if it were true, we see no moral, legal, or economic reason to deter refugees in the first place.
Recommendations
We urge the UK government to take on the recommendations of the Refugee Council. These include:
- Setting a multi-year target for resettling refugees, which significantly expands on the number currently being resettled.
- Expanding access to refugee family reunion by allowing children to be reunited with parents and using a more realistic definition of what counts as family.
- Building a scheme with the EU which allows for family members in different countries to be
reunited. - Piloting a “refugee visa” that allows people to travel to the UK before applying for asylum.
Download the briefing here.
