‘Stirling must reach out to help refugees’
Campaigners are asking the people of Stirling to welcome more refugees and asylum seekers to the area.
A new campaign group, Stirling Must Act, has been established as a local chapter of ‘Europe Must Act,’ a social movement started in March 2020 working with refugees in the Aegean Greek Islands.
Council leaders are being asked to take immediate action to pledge spaces for the relocation of refugees and asylum seekers from the islands.
A newly launched petition to Stirling Council is part of a campaign run by EMA, calling on cities and towns across Europe to pledge spaces for refugees and asylum seekers currently stranded there.
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen have already launched EMA campaign chapters, alongside 18 other UK cities to date.
The campaign has also received wider political attention with 39 MSPS signed a motion of support in the Scottish Parliament and Nicola Sturgeon has written to the Home Office to raise the issue of Aegean refugees.
Stirling MP Alyn Smith is among 34 MPS to date to have signed a new motion in the UK Parliament.
University of Stirling student Calum Kitching recently returned from volunteering in the refugee crisis in Calais, where he witnessed first hand the abhorrent living conditions of many refugees in Europe.
“It is difficult to comprehend how people can be living in such inhumane conditions in 21st century Europe - a place we consider to be a flagship for human rights,” said Calum. “Many of the people I met had spent time in the Greek refugee camps having crossed by small boat from Turkey fleeing war and persecution in the Middle-east and Africa. They spoke of the intolerable, overcrowded and unhygienic conditions of the camps.
“This is no way to live, especially for young children.”
He added: “In recent months, the spread of Covid-19 has sparked fears of a health catastrophe in the overcrowded and insanitary refugee hotspot camps in Greece. Around 20,000 asylum seekers are currently locked down in the Aegean Islands in facilities designed for around 5,400.
“NGOS worry that illequipped local hospitals and woefully inadequate health services will be unable to deal with a widespread outbreak of the virus.
“The recent fires in Moria Camp on Lesvos, known as the world’s worst refugee camp, have brought this issue back into the public eye as 12,000 residents were made homeless overnight. Now accommodated in a temporary tented camp, conditions are even worse with flooding, lack of showers, limited chemical toilets and no schools for the many children.
“Europe Must Act began as a call for change from grassroots NGOS working in Greece. The #Citiesmustact campaign is calling on towns and cities across Europe to commit to the immediate resettlement of asylum seekers and refugees currently in the Aegean hotspots camps of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros. The mayor and citizens of Berlin have already pledged to take in 1,500 refugees from Greece.
“Whilst councils may not have the legal power to directly relocate refugees themselves, the campaign gives the British public a chance to have a voice and send a powerful message to the UK and Scottish governments as they shape our future migration policy. Highlands, Inverclyde, Aberdeenshire and South Ayrshire councils have already offered to take in refugees from the Aegean if a resettlement deal is agreed with the UK government.”
Since 2015, Stirling and Clackmannanshire Councils have provided homes for around 25 refugee families, many of them originally from Syria, through a UK Government re-settlement scheme which helps vulnerable people from camps in countries such as Jordan.
Local charity Forth Valley Welcome was also set up in late 2015 to assist Stirling Council in welcoming Syrian families to the area during the height of the refugee crisis.
More information on the campaign and petition can be found at: https://linktr. ee/stirlingmustact