UK’s missed opportunity at UN summit

UK’s missed opportunity at UN summit

The world’s leaders gathered on 19 September at the UN Summit for refugees and migrants with the aim of bringing countries together behind a more humane and coordinated approach. However, as one headline  put it, ‘World leaders met at the UN to discuss refugees, but they mostly talked about keeping them out’.

That’s not the whole story: millions of dollars were pledged, including $100 million by China; promises to take in more refugees were made. And the UN itself said the declaration at the end of talks "expresses [world leaders'] political will to protect refugee and migrant rights and share responsibility for global movements".

But it’s a shame that our own Prime Minister, Theresa May, missed the opportunity to make a positive stand – in the name of humanity, and of British generosity – rather than apparently trying to slam the door in the faces people fleeing for their lives.

We are one of the richest countries in the world, yet our government’s emphasis is on ensuring that the heaviest burden of accommodating those escaping war and persecution falls on others who are less wealthy and less able to cope.

The government has even been dragging its feet in living up to its own promise of enabling unaccompanied child refugees in Europe to join parents already in Britain.

It is with sadness that we feel the government must be reminded that this is a humanitarian, not a political, issue: it’s a question of helping people in dire need,  not of political posturing to show who’s toughest or of delaying action by spinning more and more words.

Yes, the government wants to control its borders: but that doesn’t mean barricading them. It means living up to our international legal obligations to consider refugee applications on merit, rather than rejecting them in masse; ensuring that refugee families are reunited; creating a welcoming climate and educating the public about the realities of the world refugee situation (and how relatively few arrive on our doorstep); providing help for refugees to establish themselves in their new home. It’s ironic that it is Migrant Voice’s Syrian members who are crying out for advice and assistance on how best to integrate, while the government cuts services.

The government is acting on the basis that the British people have lost all sense of generosity and are mean-spirited and grudgingly prepared to do only the least possible. We do not share that lack of faith in our fellow citizens.