Council make welcoming Afghan refugees a priority
South Lanarkshire Council has confirmed that it will be resettling five Afghan families in the area as a “matter of priority”.
Up to 20,000 Afghans are seeking asylum in the UK under a scheme to be set up by the Westminster Government after fleeing their country when the Taliban regained control.
The local authority said last month that they have a “proud record of assisting refugees”.
In response to the situation in Afghanistan, a spokesman for the council said: “South Lanarkshire Council and Community Planning Partners will welcome five Afghan families (approximately 25 people) and arrival arrangements are being put in place to receive and resettle families as a matter of priority.”
Since 2015, more than 170 Syrian refugees were re-homed in the region following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011.
It is understood that COSLA leaders agreed in May to support the UK Humanitarian Programme that was anticipated in terms of people expected to leave Afghanistan.
COSLA is coordinating the Afghan relocation scheme for Scotland which is expected to be very different to the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Programme, due to the time scales involved.
A few councils in Scotland are unable to participate, while others are already understood to have offered “a large number of properties”.
In 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan with support from a number of countries including the UK, Australia and Canada, in response to the September 11 attacks.
They sought to deny al-Qaeda a safe base in the country by removing the Taliban from power.
More than 200,000 people were killed in the 20-year conflict, including 456 British troops. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has warned “hundreds of thousands” of people are fleeing the situation in Afghanistan because of “serious human rights violations”.