Fleeing from warzone

South Lanarkshire has played a lead role in aiding refugees from Syria.

Another 100 Syrian refugees are expected to arrive here this year.

A report that went before councillors stated that nearly 140 have already settled here.

And they were told“by the end of December 2019 it is anticipated that a further 100 individuals will reside in South Lanarkshire”.

South Lanarkshire Council’s executive committee has also approved the employment of two full-time equivalent posts, on a temporary basis, to education resources.

Costs associated with the new posts for the fixed-term of 15 months are £98,352.50, which will be fully funded through the The Syrian Refugee Resettlement Programme (SRRP) through the UK Aid budget.

As part of the agreement with the Home Office, there is a requirement that individuals over the age of 18 will receive a minimum of eight hours of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision per week.

And the posts will help develop the ESOL programme designed to help refugees integrate more easily into the community within South Lanarkshire.

The SRRP is designed to assist Syrians who have fled as a result of the conflict in their home country. In order to qualify, individuals or families have to be particularly vulnerable as survivors of violence and torture, women and children at risk and those needing medical care.

The UK Government initiated the SRRP in 2015 to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK within a five-year period to 2020, with funding from the from the Home Office.

The report states that 136 individuals – equating to 37 families – have resettled in the area.

New families arriving are offered an intensive induction package as part of the Ongoing Learning Programme, consisting of three weeks of three hours for three days a week to help develop daily living language skills.

■ Since March 2011, over five million Syrians have fled their country

■ More than six million Syrians are internally displaced

■ Over 13 million people inside Syria require humanitarian assistance, including nearly six million children

■ At the end of 2017, more than half the country’s hospitals, clinics and primary health care centres were partially functioning or had been damaged beyond repair

■ The United Nations has called for $4.4 billion to help five million refugees in neighbouring countries in 2018-2019

■ Filippo Grandi, UNHCR High Commissioner, said:“syria is the biggest humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time.”