Amina Meshnumi

YOUNG people challenged the home secretary to live for a week in Rwanda at a Camden children’s charity event at the House of Lords.

Teenagers supported by Coram, based in King’s Cross, had joined the campaign event against the Illegal Migration Bill last Wednesday.

The Bill would see people coming to this country claiming asylum without prior permission flown out to temporary facilities in the East African country Rwanda.

Amina Meshnuni, in a message for Suella Braverman, said: “Take a trip to the temporary accommodations, stay a week in Rwanda, and live through the conditions that you are putting us through.”

She added: “Give us a chance to be heard and raise our concerns. Let us show you that we are people, not reference numbers, and also prove yourself human enough to give us that chance.”

Coram which works to improve the mental and physical health of children and young people in London had sent delegates to an event organised by Lord Alfred Dubs and Baroness Sally Hamwee.

It had sent young people to the event as part of their “Young Citizens’ Project”, which provides workshops for young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to improve their well-being.

Ms Meshnuni, who had fled organised crime in Albania, added: “The journeys that migrants and asylum seekers are taking are very difficult and challenging, and they are taking them because they have no other choice.”