‘Moved’ Britain will take 20 000 refugees
BRITAIN will accept up to 20 000 refugees from Syria by 2020, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday.
“The whole country has been deeply moved by the heart-breaking images we have seen over the past few days,” Cameron told lawmakers of the House of Commons, adding that “it’s absolutely right that Britain should fulfil the moral responsibility to help those refugees,” Xinhua reported.
He proposed that Britain should resettle up to 20 000 Syrian refugees over the next five years.
Cameron said that Britain would play its part alongside other European countries. But as Britain was not part of the EU’s borderless Schengen agreement or its relocation initiative, Britain was able to decide its own approach.
Refugees arriving in Britain will be granted five year humanitarian protection visas, said Cameron, and the criteria for the current Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme of Britain would “significantly expand”.
Refugees, who could be granted humanitarian protection, can stay in Britain for five years, and have the right to work and get public funds.
They can apply to settle in the country after five years.
Vulnerable children, including orphans, have the priority to be accepted by Britain.
Local media reported the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas as saying Cameron’s commitment “falls pitifully short of what’s needed,” while the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby called the action a “very slim response”.
The British government is under great pressure as around 800 000 refugees are expected to be received by Germany this year, and the British public is urging the government to take more action.
So far, an online petition to Cameron initiated by the Independent has shown that more than 371 000 people supported Britain working with other European Union countries to settle and welcome a fair share of refugees seeking safety in Europe. – IANS