SUPERMODEL Kate Moss has backed a national campaign to celebrate family life using photographs.
The project, backed by the Worcester News, is being run by Amnesty International UK as part of the #FamiliesTogether campaign.
Sharing the treasured image, she said: "Family is the most important thing. I love this picture of me, Jefferson and our daughter Lila. Even though we have such busy lives, we always make time to be together as often as we can. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to have that choice taken away from me."
Amnesty is calling for the easing of restrictive UK rules which will be presented to the Home Secretary to help families who have been torn apart.
A spokesman said: "Imagine fleeing your country, your home, your life as you know it. Imagine arriving in an unfamiliar country, unable to speak the language to convey the horrors your have witnessed, the traumas you’ve survived. Imagine doing this all alone without the comfort of your family.
"For some refugees arriving in the UK this is their reality. For these people, a crumpled photograph folded up in a back pocket is often the closest connection they have to their relatives who they’ve left behind hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Many families become separated as they flee the chaos of war and embark on long dangerous journeys to find sanctuary. Mothers and fathers from their children, brothers from sisters, grandparents from grandchildren.
"But it needn’t be this way. Amnesty UK, as part of the #FamiliesTogether campaign, is calling for the easing of restrictive UK rules for refugees who have been separated from their families.
"We are asking the public, MPs and celebrities - including supermodel Kate Moss - to celebrate family life in all its wonderful glory by submitting their own treasured photographs to the UK’s Biggest Family Photo Album.
"We want to show the Government that this country cares about the vulnerable people arriving on its shores and believes that they should be able to reunite with their closest family members.
At the moment, children who arrive alone in the UK have no right under immigration rules to be reunited with even their parents or siblings, leaving them vulnerable and without the emotional support they need to overcome the suffering they have experienced."
Current laws only explicitly allow spouses or partners and their dependent children under the age of 18 to join adult refugees. This means a parent could bring their young teenagers to a country of safety but be forced to leave their 19-year-old child behind in a warzone.
Submitting your photo to Amnesty’s album has the power to change laws - giving refugees the promise of a safe future with their family after enduring so much.
Earlier this year, MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of changing the rules keeping refugee families apart.
The UK’s Biggest Family Photo Album will be presented to the Home Office as a call to help those who have been torn apart from their closest family members – offering them a chance to rebuild their lives and look forward to safe, happy futures together. Sajid Javid has the power to change these rules with the stroke of a pen.
To submit a photo, visit worcesternews.co.uk or www.amnesty.org.uk/family.
The photo can be recent or old, and show any moment that you hold precious. Virgin Experience Days is offering entrants the chance to win one of 13 Family Segway Rally prizes worth £140 each at locations across the country as well as one national prize, a Tiki Lodge Family Adventure Week on the Gower Peninsula in Wales worth £950.
For full T&Cs please visit: https://www.virginexperiencedays.co.uk/terms-and-conditions.
This campaign is supported by the players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
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