David Cameron must do more to alleviate the global refugee crisis in 2016 after the government’s “clearly inadequate” response last year, the heads of more than two dozen aid agencies and charities have said in a letter to Downing Street.
In a joint message to the prime minister, organisations including Oxfam, the Refugee Council, Christian Aid, Cafod and Amnesty International say the UK should establish safe and legal routes for refugees into and across Europe.
The letter calls on Cameron to do more than take in people who had fled conflict in Syria, and instead “approach this new year with new resolve to address the appalling plight of refugees in Europe”.
Individual charities who signed the letter also made their own parallel appeals to Cameron, with the Refugee Council saying the prime minister should “open his heart and show true statesmanship”. Oxfam, meanwhile, called the UK response so far to the crisis “lacklustre at best, mean-spirited at worst”.
The joint letter says: “Last year’s announcement that the UK will resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years was a welcome first step, but given the numbers of people searching for safety across the globe, this response is clearly inadequate: it is too slow, too low and too narrow. The UK can and should be doing much more to ensure that refugees are not compelled to take life-threatening journeys or forced into smugglers’ hands.”
It comes as a child who drowned off the coast of Greece was confirmed as the first known casualty of the refugee crisis this year.
The letter demands safe and legal ways for refugees to reach the EU and travel across it, noting that in 2015 3,770 people died trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. Britain, it adds, “should take a fair and proportionate share of refugees, both those already within the European Union and those still outside it”.
Refugees should have “access to fair and thorough procedures to determine eligibility for international protection”, the letter argues. It says the various signatories, including humanitarian and refugee aid charities, as well as rights groups, “bear witness to the full arc of this refugee crisis”.
Welcoming the the UK’s role in providing aid to Syria, Greece and the Balkans, the letter argues that tackling the root causes of the refugee crisis remains a priority. It continues: “However, in the absence of peace, people will continue to flee. We must provide them with safe, well-managed escape routes and refuge.”
British lawyers helped the draft the UN’s refugee convention after the second world war, the letter says. “As a nation, we made a promise: that never again would refugees be left out in the cold to fend for themselves; that this country would protect them; that here, they would find safe haven.”
It ends: “We urge you to keep that promise.”
Speaking separately, Oxfam’s deputy chief executive, Penny Lawrence, said more than a million refugees had risked the journey to Europe in 2015. “The numbers are huge but each one is a person – a brother, a mother, a daughter, a loved one. The government’s response to this crisis in Europe has been lacklustre at best, mean-spirited at worst.”
Maurice Wren, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said that while there were no easy answers to the crisis the UK should do more in 2016: “This year the prime minister must open his heart and show true statesmanship by welcoming far more refugees to the UK, enabling them to travel here safely and legally to live lives free from violence, tyranny and oppression.”
Sanj Srikanthan, head of policy for the International Rescue Committee, the aid charity headed by David Miliband, said the government was “burying its head in the sand about the sheer scale of the problem”.
He said: “Europe is facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the second world war. The government needs to wake up to the scale of the challenge we’re facing, and recognise that resettling 4,000 refugees per year – only six people per parliamentary constituency – is woefully inadequate.”
Other organisations who signed the letter included ActionAid, Doctors of the World, Freedom from Torture, Greenpeace, Islamic Relief, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Liberty and World Vision.
A government spokesperson said: “The terrible images we have seen in the last year have moved us all, strengthening our resolve to help prevent more people suffering such a fate.
“That is why we are resettling people directly from the countries neighbouring Syria, to which so many refugees have fled, and we have already met our target of welcoming 1,000 of the most vulnerable before Christmas.
“The UK is also playing a leading role providing life-saving aid to those most in need, both in the Syrian region, where we have pledged over £1.1bn in humanitarian aid, and in Europe. It is essential that we focus our support where we can make the biggest impact.”
The letter in full
Dear prime minister,
As a coalition of international humanitarian organisations, refugee assistance organisations, and human rights advocacy groups we ask you to approach this new year with new resolve to address the appalling plight of refugees in Europe.
Last year saw 3,695 people drown and hundreds of thousands more endure a desperate march of misery across the continent. Together, our organisations bear witness to the full arc of this refugee crisis.
We see first-hand the human cost of war, persecution and human rights abuses that force people to abandon their homes in search of refuge. We provide emergency relief to desperate men, women and children who have fled to Europe’s shores. We help refugees begin to rebuild their lives here in the United Kingdom.
We welcome the leading role the UK has played in offering international aid to places affected by conflict, especially in the Syria region. We also commend the UK for providing assistance to those helping refugees in Greece and the Balkans, where humanitarian relief is urgently needed.
Tackling the reasons people are forced to flee their homes in places such as Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea must of course remain a priority. However, in the absence of peace, people will continue to flee. We must provide them with safe, well-managed escape routes and refuge.
Last year’s announcement that the UK will resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years was a welcome first step, but given the numbers of people searching for safety across the globe, this response is clearly inadequate: it is too slow, too low and too narrow. The UK can and should be doing much more to ensure that refugees are not compelled to take life-threatening journeys or forced into smugglers’ hands.
We therefore join leading members of the legal community in endorsing the following four refugee principles and believe that, as a matter of urgency:
- The UK should take a fair and proportionate share of refugees, both those already within the European Union and those still outside it.
- Safe and legal routes to the UK, as well as to the European Union, need to be established.
- Safe and legal routes within the European Union, including the UK, should be established.
- There should be access to fair and thorough procedures to determine eligibility for international protection wherever it is sought.
The UK, along with other European countries, must take responsibility for responding to the refugee crisis on Europe’s doorstep.
Over 64 years ago, soon after the horrors of the second world war, European governments adopted the refugee convention, an instrument of international law which British lawyers helped to draft. As a nation, we made a promise: that never again would refugees be left out in the cold to fend for themselves; that this country would protect them; that here, they would find safe haven.
We urge you to keep that promise.
Yours sincerely,
Girish Menon, chief executive, ActionAid UK
Kate Allen, director, Amnesty International UK
Wayne Myslik, chief executive, Asylum Aid
Ben Jackson, chief executive, Bond
Maurice Wren, chief executive, British Refugee Council
Chris Bain, director, Cafod
Loretta Minghella OBE, chief executive, Christian Aid
Tiffy Allen, network coordinator, City of Sanctuary
Phil McCarthy, chief executive, CSAN (Caritas Social Action Network)
Leigh Daynes, executive director, Doctors of the World UK
Susan Munroe, chief executive, Freedom from Torture
John Sauven, executive director, Greenpeace UK
Jane Waterman, executive director, International Rescue Committee UK
Imran Madden, director, Islamic Relief UK
Saira Grant, chief executive, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants
Shami Chakrabarti, director, Liberty
Hany El-Banna OBE, chairman, Muslim Charities Forum
Mark Goldring, chief executive, Oxfam GB
Stephen Hale OBE, chief executive, Refugee Action
Adrian Marshall, executive director, Responding to Conflict
John Wilkes, chief executive, Scottish Refugee Council
Emma Williams, chief executive, Student Action for Refugees
Salah Mohamed, chief executive, Welsh Refugee Council
Natasha Walter, director, Women for Refugee Women
Tim Pilkington, chief executive, World Vision UK
Adam Leach, chief executive, Y Care International
Simon Underwood, chair, North of England Refugee Service
