Related News
Britain and Australia apologize to children
Source: Agencies |
November 16, 2009, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITAIN and Australia are saying sorry to thousands of British children who were promised a better life overseas, only to suffer abuse and neglect thousands of kilometers from home.
The British government said yesterday that Prime Minister Gordon Brown will apologize for 20th-century child migrant programs that saw thousands of poor British children sent to Australia, Canada and other former colonies until the 1960s. Many ended up in institutions or worked as farm laborers.
Brown's office said officials would consult with representatives of the surviving children before making a formal apology next year.
And the Australian government says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will offer his own apology today to the child migrants, as well as to the "forgotten Australians," children who suffered in state care during the last century.
At a ceremony today in Canberra attended by hundreds of former child migrants, Rudd will apologize for his country's role in the child migrants program and say sorry to the 7,000 survivors of the program who still live in Australia, as well as to those who lived in orphanages.
The British government has estimated that a total of 150,000 British children may have been shipped abroad under a variety of programs that operated between the early 19th century and 1967.
A 2001 Australian report said that between 6,000 and 30,000 children from Britain and Malta, often taken from unmarried mothers or impoverished families, were sent alone to Australia as migrants during the 20th century. Some of the children were told, wrongly, that they were orphans.
The migration was intended to stop the children being a burden on the British state while supplying the receiving countries with potential workers.
British Children's Secretary Ed Balls said the child migrant policy was "a stain on our society."
"I think it is important that we say to the children who are now adults and older people and to their offspring that this is something that we look back on in shame," he told Sky News.
Sandra Anker, who was sent to Australia from Britain when she was six years old, said the British government "have a lot to answer for."
"We've suffered all our lives," she told the BBC. "For the government of England to say sorry to us, it makes it right - even if it's late, it's better than not at all."
The British government said yesterday that Prime Minister Gordon Brown will apologize for 20th-century child migrant programs that saw thousands of poor British children sent to Australia, Canada and other former colonies until the 1960s. Many ended up in institutions or worked as farm laborers.
Brown's office said officials would consult with representatives of the surviving children before making a formal apology next year.
And the Australian government says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will offer his own apology today to the child migrants, as well as to the "forgotten Australians," children who suffered in state care during the last century.
At a ceremony today in Canberra attended by hundreds of former child migrants, Rudd will apologize for his country's role in the child migrants program and say sorry to the 7,000 survivors of the program who still live in Australia, as well as to those who lived in orphanages.
The British government has estimated that a total of 150,000 British children may have been shipped abroad under a variety of programs that operated between the early 19th century and 1967.
A 2001 Australian report said that between 6,000 and 30,000 children from Britain and Malta, often taken from unmarried mothers or impoverished families, were sent alone to Australia as migrants during the 20th century. Some of the children were told, wrongly, that they were orphans.
The migration was intended to stop the children being a burden on the British state while supplying the receiving countries with potential workers.
British Children's Secretary Ed Balls said the child migrant policy was "a stain on our society."
"I think it is important that we say to the children who are now adults and older people and to their offspring that this is something that we look back on in shame," he told Sky News.
Sandra Anker, who was sent to Australia from Britain when she was six years old, said the British government "have a lot to answer for."
"We've suffered all our lives," she told the BBC. "For the government of England to say sorry to us, it makes it right - even if it's late, it's better than not at all."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
