4. Statement by the Leader of the House and Chief Whip: Refugee Week — Wales, a Nation of Sanctuary

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:13 pm on 19 June 2018.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 4:13, 19 June 2018

I think the first thing that I want to say today is that I'm sure some of us have seen the scenes in America where children are being literally ripped out of the arms of their parents and the damage that is being done to both the parents, but also to the children, and to the nation. So, with respect, I would ask if you will condemn those actions. I'm also pleased that we don't follow those actions here in Wales. It is absolutely appalling, it is absolutely inhumane and I cannot believe—and I'm sure nobody else can here—that you can have a President of one of the richest countries in the world actually standing up and saying that that is an acceptable form of behaviour. So, thank you for allowing me time to say that today.

It is in that vein, I suppose, that I rise here today. There is an article in The Guardian, and I have a copy here—it's not rubbish, so maybe I can hold it up—and it's a study about suicide that has happened because the system is so slow when it comes to processing—very often—minors. They are told quite clearly that at the age of 17 and a half, if they're not settled, that they would have to leave the country, and they've already been through hugely traumatic situations where they have suffered both physically and mentally to get to the stage that they are. They then find that all their hopes and dreams are somehow dashed by the system's inability to cope with them. I know that the system isn't down to us, so my question is this, particularly focusing on two groups, and one of them is the unaccompanied minors who find themselves destitute, very often, and then they become desperate, and then they harm themselves, and then, finally, they take their own lives. And that has happened here in Wales as well. I remember going to the Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees, and giving a keynote speech while they were remembering one of their own, and the devastating impact that it had had on those people, as a group, who'd done everything they could to assist that individual into a life worth living.

The other group that I'm very keen to focus on is those—and they are, more or less, women—who find themselves victims of sexual violence and rape, and all that goes with that, but it isn't exclusively women: some males are also subject to that. I note, in your statement, that there is a scoping exercise that will ascertain the key difficulties that are faced by asylum seekers and refugees who have experienced that, so that you can take some action. I look forward, leader of the house, to the outcome of that. And have you any indication whatsoever of when we could expect the results of some of those scoping exercises?