Let's not further diminish our standing in Europe
Sometimes it just takes one photo to turn the tide of public opinion. One picture of a young girl, running for her life from a napalm attack, helped solidify opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1970s. The now iconic photo of a man standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, became a global symbol of defiance against oppression.
Now it is the heart-wrenching photo of Aylan Kurdi, the tiny Syrian boy found washed up dead on a Turkish beach, which has roused the public’s emotions and shone a stark light on the UK and Europe’s failure to respond adequately to the refugee crisis unfolding on our borders.
In the face of pressure from the public, media and some of his backbenchers, David Cameron has at last relented and accepted that the UK should take in a higher number of refugees from Syria. Yet he still refuses to contemplate a broader, European response to this crisis.
Plans are being drawn up to take a limited number of refugees directly from camps on Syria’s borders, but much to the dismay of our EU partners, Cameron continues to rule out taking part in an EU response to the thousands of desperate refugees arriving on Europe’s shores. This may be politically expedient, but it is strategically short-sighted. Only by working together at the EU level can we address the biggest refugee crisis since WW2.
Yesterday I visited Calais to see the humanitarian situation of migrants and would-be asylum-seekers there first-hand. I met Syrians, Afghans, Eritreans and Sudanese men and children. Many had undergone appalling journeys to get to the camp and were now living in horrendous conditions, all in the hope of one day reaching the UK.
Contrary to public perception, their motives had nothing to do with the British benefits system. Asylum seekers receive around 80 euros a week in France, almost twice what they would get in the UK. The vast majority wanted to reach Britain either because they spoke good English, they had relatives here already or they thought it would be easier to find a job.
What was abundantly clear was that building yet more walls and fences will not deter these desperate people, who have already overcome huge obstacles during their long, perilous journeys. We need a real long-term solution, not more tough-sounding rhetoric and political posturing.
Firstly that means ending the current perverse situation in which some EU countries are doing vastly more than others to respond to this crisis. By the end of this year Germany expects to take in up to 800,000 refugees, compared to just a few hundred in neighbouring Poland. And in 2014 Sweden processed twice as many asylum requests than the UK, or 17 times more per person.
Meanwhile countries such as Italy, Greece and Hungary are struggling to cope with the vast flow of migrants entering into Europe, with many being left for months in overcrowded and unsanitary detention centres. The EU’s broken asylum system is on the verge of collapse.
Next week the European Commission will come forward with a plan that would redistribute up to 160,000 refugees more equally around the EU. This would be the first step in creating an EU-wide system that offers safe and legal routes into Europe, processes asylum requests more efficiently and ensures that all EU countries play their part in offering sanctuary to genuine refugees.
Until such a system is in place, thousands will continue to perish making the perilous journey into Europe and thousands more will continue to be left in limbo in places like Calais, Ventimiglia and Budapest.
I am urging the Conservative government to be part of this European solution and not part of the problem. Let’s take in our fair share of Europe’s refugees, while stepping up joint efforts to tackle the root causes in countries like Syria and Eritrea.
Britain has a long and proud tradition of looking after the vulnerable and those fleeing conflict and persecution. Let’s stay true to that tradition of compassion, decency and tolerance, and not further diminish our standing in Europe and the world.
Catherine Bearder is a Liberal Democrat MEP
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39 Responses to “Comment: Cameron must wake up and join the EU’s response to the refugee crisis”
DRbilderburg
no mp, journalist or powerbroker, has ever done anything for any refugee except use them for a photo shoot Their jobs and livelyhoods are not threatened, a lifetime of gravy train while those scumbag peasents can take the hit .The poorest in society pay for refugees created by the scum that pose as human beings Governmnts journalists mps scum of the earth, lowest of the low
I'm very cross about this.
I’m not sure which but you either can’t read or can’t understand simple points.
1. Hospitals running out of money.
2. You can’t get a GP appointment.
3. We have a housing shortage.
4. School class sizes already too large.
Need I go on or do you think that adding a further 100,000 to our population won’t make matters worse?
Since the dreadful picture of that dead child the left and in particular the BBC have gone into meltdown. The BBC has spent several days telling us that public opinion has shifted and we all want to allow more immigration to solve this problem. Well I have news for the hand wringers at the BBC, they’re wrong. The BBC has opened comments for the first time on one of their stories and the general public has torn them a new arsehole. Take a look, BBC entered panic mode and shut down comments because they didn’t like the message they were being sent.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34167271
Chris Kitcher
You appear to be a complete arse. The four points that you list are the direct result of Tory policies caused by their obsession with austerity. What sensible government would kill the poor and vulnerable whilst at the same time give a £ 107,000 tax rebate to the super rich?
We have more than enough money in the shitty little country to ensure that everyone has enough money to live a good life. In fact as a sovereign nation that controls its own currency we do not have the problems experienced by non sovereign countries
To prove that you are not the arse that you appear to be look at the figures before making such stupid comments and committing them to print.
I'm very cross about this.
Explain why it matters whether it’s the result of Tory policy or a drug addled Scottish lunatic who broke the economy? The point is it’s real, it’s a fact, it’s happening. Whether you like it or not we have a Tory government that has been democratically elected so austerity isn’t going to change any time soon and adding large numbers of people to an over stretched system is going to make it worse. If as I hope; I voted for him, labour get Comrade Corbyn as leader then you will have at least a generation to get used to Tory governments.
stevep
Or even more pig-ignorant far-right brainwashed trolls find they are blinded by when they pull their heads out of the darkness and smell of their own backsides and wonder what it is they are seeing.