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| Why faith leaders are demanding urgent change to the refugee system Why faith leaders are demanding urgent change to the refugee system | |
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| Our government is committed to offering asylum to those who come to this country and who have a genuine claim. It is even more committed to preventing them from doing so. Successive governments have made it more and more difficult for anyone to get here in order to make a claim: the “wall of Calais” is just the latest attempt. We levy heavy fines on those who transport people to this country without passports and visas – and those genuinely in need of asylum are exactly the ones who can’t get documents to allow them to travel. We take advantage of the fact that few asylum seekers can get here directly, to insist they should have made their claim somewhere else. | Our government is committed to offering asylum to those who come to this country and who have a genuine claim. It is even more committed to preventing them from doing so. Successive governments have made it more and more difficult for anyone to get here in order to make a claim: the “wall of Calais” is just the latest attempt. We levy heavy fines on those who transport people to this country without passports and visas – and those genuinely in need of asylum are exactly the ones who can’t get documents to allow them to travel. We take advantage of the fact that few asylum seekers can get here directly, to insist they should have made their claim somewhere else. |
| The result? We drive asylum seekers into the hands of people traffickers. Those who only have to spend all their resources are the lucky ones – they didn’t die along the way. We increase the profits from organised crime. I hope that very few people, as individuals, would treat another human being that way. And it’s still wrong when it’s done by the government on our behalf. | The result? We drive asylum seekers into the hands of people traffickers. Those who only have to spend all their resources are the lucky ones – they didn’t die along the way. We increase the profits from organised crime. I hope that very few people, as individuals, would treat another human being that way. And it’s still wrong when it’s done by the government on our behalf. |
| There are simple things the government could do that would have a huge impact: to issue humanitarian visas so that people could come here to have their claim assessed, so that refugees don’t have to risk their lives to reach their families; to reduce the many restrictive rules that prevent families from being reunited – rules that currently prevent, for instance, lone refugee children in the UK from bringing their parents over, and make it extremely difficult even for adult British citizens to do so. | There are simple things the government could do that would have a huge impact: to issue humanitarian visas so that people could come here to have their claim assessed, so that refugees don’t have to risk their lives to reach their families; to reduce the many restrictive rules that prevent families from being reunited – rules that currently prevent, for instance, lone refugee children in the UK from bringing their parents over, and make it extremely difficult even for adult British citizens to do so. |
| These changes would be neither expensive nor impossibly complex. In Italy, the government is working in alliance with churches and charities to issue visas in the Middle East and North Africa that allow those seeking asylum to avoid the traffickers. On arrival, the supporting churches look after the new arrivals, teaching them the language and helping them become integrated into the community. In this country, likewise, there are thousands who have family members still in areas of conflict. There are hundreds of churches, mosques and charities that would be glad to offer support. But the UK government isn’t interested. | These changes would be neither expensive nor impossibly complex. In Italy, the government is working in alliance with churches and charities to issue visas in the Middle East and North Africa that allow those seeking asylum to avoid the traffickers. On arrival, the supporting churches look after the new arrivals, teaching them the language and helping them become integrated into the community. In this country, likewise, there are thousands who have family members still in areas of conflict. There are hundreds of churches, mosques and charities that would be glad to offer support. But the UK government isn’t interested. |
| These moves should not be controversial. The wonder to me is that we have ever put in place measures that divide families in this way. The leaders of many faiths who have written today to the prime minister have done so in the conviction that the proposals we make are in the best interests of our country, as well as those we should be reaching out to help. All our faiths compel us to affirm the dignity of all human beings, and to offer help to anyone in need. We rejoice in the mosaic of different faiths and British communities that we now represent. Some of us came to this country from other countries of birth; others, such as me, have families that have been British for many generations. But we all recognise that the best of this country is represented by the generosity, kindness, solidarity and decency that Britain has at many times shown those fleeing persecution, even at times of far greater deprivation and difficulty than the present day. The UK should be proud to take its fair share of refugees, as we have done in the past, to exhibit to those in most need the very best of Britain. | These moves should not be controversial. The wonder to me is that we have ever put in place measures that divide families in this way. The leaders of many faiths who have written today to the prime minister have done so in the conviction that the proposals we make are in the best interests of our country, as well as those we should be reaching out to help. All our faiths compel us to affirm the dignity of all human beings, and to offer help to anyone in need. We rejoice in the mosaic of different faiths and British communities that we now represent. Some of us came to this country from other countries of birth; others, such as me, have families that have been British for many generations. But we all recognise that the best of this country is represented by the generosity, kindness, solidarity and decency that Britain has at many times shown those fleeing persecution, even at times of far greater deprivation and difficulty than the present day. The UK should be proud to take its fair share of refugees, as we have done in the past, to exhibit to those in most need the very best of Britain. |