The Independent: Britain Turns Its Back on Syria’s Refugees

Local Editor

The Independent British daily confirmed that London has been accused of adopting a "no room at the inn" policy after rejecting a United Nations appeal to allow refugees fleeing the crisis in Syria to live in Britain.

Ministers have decided not to join 16 nations, including the United States, France and Germany, which have pledged to allow a total of more than 10,000 refugees from Syria war to move to their countries.

Aid agencies are describing the UK Government's approach as "there's no room at the inn". Now the Labor Opposition is calling for ministers to accept between 400 and 500 Syrian refugees - including victims, people with family connections in Britain, and women and girls at high risk.

The Government insists it is better to help neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq cope as Syrians flee across their borders. Ministers say the UK is helping more than one million of the estimated 2.4 million refugees in what the UN views as the biggest emergency in its history.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow Home Secretary, told The Independent: "We should be rightly proud of our humanitarian aid effort and the generosity of the British people. But we should also do our part, alongside other countries within the UN's program, to provide a safe haven for some of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees fleeing this murderous conflict.

The Refugee Council said only about 0.1 per cent of Syrians fleeing the violence had found safety in the UK. It is urging people to ask their MPs to tell David Cameron "that we must play our part in providing a safe haven for the most vulnerable fleeing the war".

Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said: "It is not only financial, economic, and technical support to these [neighboring] states which is needed.
Australia has pledged to take 500 Syrians for permanent resettlement and Sweden 400, while Germany will allow 5,000 temporary "humanitarian admissions" for two years and France 500. The US has not set an upper limit.

Today the Home Office said the Government's £500m of aid to Syria was the UK's biggest ever response to a humanitarian crisis and almost equaled that of the other 27 EU countries combined. Some £217m will be spent inside Syria and £236m in neighboring countries.

Source: The Independent, Edited by web site team