A HUMAN rights charity has accused the UK government of further traumatising refugee children by not allowing them to reunite with their families.

In a new report, Amnesty International has called for the government to change the law to allow asylum-seeking children who arrive in the UK alone to be allowed to have a family member enter the country to stay with them.

Hundreds of children have fled to Scotland by themselves over the last three years, escaping violence, war and torture in their home countries.

Many of them do not have any contact with their families, and do not know if they are alive or dead.

Amnesty's Without My Family report has highlighted the plight of children across the UK, and said that the government must take urgent steps to reverse its policy and give these vulnerable young people "a right to family life".

MP Angus MacNeil has backed their calls, and said that a new parliament provides elected officials the chance to "right this wrong".

However Glasgow City Council, which hosts the largest number of asylum seekers in the UK, said many children do not talk about their families on arrival in the city as they are afraid they could be targeted or persecuted.

Amnesty's report highlights that around 3,000 lone child asylum seekers arrived in the UK last year, with roughly 300 coming to Scotland.

It states that the UK is "the only EU country that refuses to grant child refugees the right to be reunited with even their closest family; and is directly at odds with national and international law, contravening the principle of the best interests of the child."

SNP MP MacNeil said: "[This] is an issue of unfinished business for me personally, to which a I am deeply committed.

"Eighteen months ago, I was lucky enough to secure a Private Members Bill and, together with the Families Together coalition, we garnered huge cross-party support for the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill, with 129 MPs voting in favour – unfortunately any further progress was blocked by the UK Government.

“The report by Amnesty International, Refugee Council and Save the Children paints the stark reality of how child refugees who have sought safety in the UK after being forced to leave their home countries are prevented from being joined by their parents, brothers, or sisters. This means the UK is one of the only countries in Europe that refuses to grant child refugees the right to be reunited with even their closest family, directly at odds with national and international law.

“An issue that struck a chord with Parliamentarians across the House was the plea from child refugees who shared their own traumatic stories such as Amran, forced to flee Afghanistan at just 16 years old – finally finding safety in the UK but dealing with the trauma alone: 'If the people who work in the Government pretend that their child is here and they are out of the country, so then they will realise what is the importance of family.’

“The UK Government and Parliament has a chance to right this wrong. If we want child refugees to thrive in the UK, they must be able to live with the love and support of their family, as every child should. I urge all my parliamentary colleagues in Westminster to continue to support this campaign and those lucky enough to be selected for Private Members Bills to take up the mantle so that we can finally bring refugee families together.”

Glasgow City council told the Herald on Sunday around two young people come to the city every week unaccompanied, and the authority is currently looking after 97 children under the age of 18, with the youngest being just 12 years old.

A further 157 young people up to the age of 26 are also being looked after by the council having come to Glasgow on their own.

Each one receives support from an allocated social worker, and they are offered the Red Cross service to help them reunite with their families if they choose.

A spokeswoman said: "Glasgow has considerable experience in working with asylum seekers and refugees. We’ve had, for a number of years, a specialist team supporting our unaccompanied asylum seekers. We help them to settle in the city and ensure they are able to access the support and services they need.

"Most of young people are highly motivated to do well and engage well with Education and they are keen to find jobs and earn their own living.”

"The report seems to relate mostly to the issue of UK immigration’s stance on allowing families in other parts of the world to come to the UK to reunite with a single unaccompanied asylum seeking child in the UK.

"The majority of our young people cannot or do not disclose details about their families when they arrive here. Many report parents who are lost/dead and we always offer the Red Cross reunification service to every young person – many choose not to disclose their parents’ details – some because of fears that their parents may be persecuted in their home country and some because they fear that the UK authorities might forcibly return them to their country of origin or a refugee camp in another part of the world."

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We support the principle of family unity and have reunited over 27,000 family members in the last five years.

“However, we also believe that we must not create perverse incentives for people, particularly children, to be encouraged – or even forced – to leave their families and risk dangerous journeys hoping relatives can join them later. This plays into the hands of criminal gangs who exploit vulnerable people and goes against our safeguarding responsibilities.

“Our focus remains on protecting vulnerable children, granting protection to 41,000 children since 2010 and doing more than most EU countries to help vulnerable unaccompanied children."