Scotland welcomes 1,000th Syrian refugee

Equalities secretary Angela Constance met Syrians taking part in English classes in Edinburgh yesterday as Scotland reached a milestone in its response to the humanitarian crisis with the arrival of the 1,000th refugee from the country.

Scotland has now welcomed its thousandth Syrian refugee.

The milestone follows the arrival of 120 more refugees last week and comes ahead of the year anniversary of the refugee summit called by the First Minister.

Nicola Sturgeon convened the event in September 2015 to discuss Scotland’s response to the migrant crisis with local authorities and humanitarian agencies.

She said the country stood ready to “offer sanctuary” and would accept 1,000 refugees “as a starting point for a meaningful discussion”.

Equalities secretary Angela Constance and David O’neill, president of council body Cosla, marked the refugees’ arrival with a visit to an English languages project in Edinburgh yesterday.

Ms Constance said: “From day one we have been clear in our commitment to accepting a fair and proportionate share of the refugees coming to the UK and will play our part in welcoming them to Scotland. We will continue to urge the UK Government to accept more refugees.”

Mr O’neill said: “Scotland’s councils have had a long and proud history of both protecting, and delivering services to, some of the most vulnerable people in communities throughout Scotland.

“As president of Cosla it makes me immensely proud that this track record is now being extended to include some of the most vulnerable people from across the globe.”

David Bradwell, of Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees, said: “A thousand people is worth marking – but it is still a tiny number compared with the people in desperate need.”