Dr Rowan Williams has spoken out after news at least four refugees in Greece and Bulgaria have succumbed to recent freezing weather, with humanitarian aid workers warning thousands more are at risk.
He has joined several religious leaders in signing a letter in the Daily Telegraph on Friday which said: "News that refugees have started freezing to death should shame us in 21st-century Europe."
The letter also calls on the prime minister Theresa May and the home secretary Amber Rudd to act to ensure the Lord Alf Dub's ammendment is used to grant child refugees in countries like Greece safe passage to Britain.
While nearly 200 vulnerable children were welcomed to Britain last year under provisions of the amendment, it's thought not a single child fleeing to Greece or Italy has benefited.
The letter warns: "There is in Greece a pressing humanitarian crisis... Children should not be walking barefoot on icy roads."
Commissioner of the Salvation Army in the UK & Ireland Clive Adams, Rabbi Danny Rich from Liberal Judaism, Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner and Rt Rev David Walker Bishop of Manchester have also signed the letter.
Lords Dubs was himself one of 10,000 children saved by the Nazis during the Second World War and brought to Britain.