Not safe – security and protection risks Our research* found that, of the 91 cases we In order to apply for family reunion, the families of UK examined in 2014, 10 per cent of family reunion refugees need to physically lodge a visa application applicants in third countries did not have legal status at the nearest British embassy. For families living and were exposed to security and protection risks. in countries where there is no British embassy, this often means undertaking perilous journeys Fifty-one per cent of applicants were exposed to across borders and residing in third countries in security risks. difficult living conditions while their application is Ninety-six per cent of applicants exposed to being processed. This can take, at best, eight to 12 security risks were women and children. weeks; at worst, and especially if they have to go to appeal, several months or even years. Experience and threats of arrest and imprisonment were identified for Eritrean families in Ethiopia Faced by these dangers and unable to and Sudan who were there without legal status. exercise their rights to family reunion through However, these threats were also identified in existing formal processes, family members are cases of interpersonal conflict between sponsors, more likely to embark on dangerous and illegal their families and the authorities in Middle Eastern routes to reach the UK. and Asian countries. For many applicants in In an EU context, the inaccessibility of the Dublin III third countries without legal status, arrest and Regulation leaves vulnerable people in dangerous imprisonment were threats to their security. situations. Europol has said that at least 10,000 These threats were also identified in cases unaccompanied child refugees have disappeared where applicants had to cross borders to make after arriving in Europe, with warnings of criminal applications. In particular, Syrian applicants travelling networks targeting vulnerable refugees. to Lebanon cited arrest and imprisonment as a major concern. Indeed, one child applicant was imprisoned on his return to Syria following the submission of his application. The drivers of violence were varied. In Pakistan, for example, Ahmadis were persecuted by other Muslims because of their religion and experienced various forms of targeted violence. Similarly, Somalis and Eritreans in Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan experienced physical attacks due to their ethnicity and origin. Threats of violence were also observed where families of political activists were treated as proxies for their sponsoring family members based in the UK. * Not So Straightforward’, British Red Cross, Beswick, 2015) 12