Britain's child migrants to get apology

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is preparing an apology for thousands of
children shipped off to Australia and other Commonwealth countries last century.

Details of his plan were revealed on the eve of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology
to the half a million "forgotten" child migrants sent to Australia from the 1920s
until the late 1960s, many of whom were mistreated in orphanages and institutions.
The BBC reported on Sunday that Brown wanted to apologise for Britain's former child
migrants program, which sent thousands of children to Commonwealth countries
including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Many were separated from their families and often wrongly told they were orphaned
and so were being sent off to a "better life" overseas.
However, thousands ended up in institutions or were forced to work as farm labourers.
"Mr Brown has asked officials to consult with survivors of the child migrants
program, so that a statement can be made in the new year," the BBC's website
reported.
British government records show at least 150,000 child migrants aged between three
and 14 were sent to Commonwealth countries until the program ended in 1967.
The program has been described as "one of the most disgraceful episodes in postwar
politics".
Brown's moves towards an apology comes after he wrote to the chairman of the British
parliament's health select committee this weekend, saying "the time is now right"
for the government to apologise to the child migrants.
"It is important that we take the time to listen to the voices of the survivors and
victims of these misguided policies," Brown wrote.
The committee's chairman, Kevin Barron, who headed an inquiry into what happened to
child migrants, told the BBC he was "very pleased" by Brown's letter.
"After consultation with organisations directly involved with child migrants we are
going to make an apology early in the new year," he said.
About 900 child migrant survivors are expected at Parliament House in Canberra on
Monday to hear Rudd's formal apology to those who suffered years of neglect and
abuse while in state care.
He will deliver a national apology to the ``Forgotten Australians'' and recognise
the mistreatment and continuing suffering of about 500,000 people held in orphanages
or children's homes between 1930 and 1970.
The national apology will be combined with another to the 7000 child migrants from
Britain who live still in Australia.