UK turns ‘blind eye’ to refugee suffering: charities
Thirteen aid agencies say in joint declaration that Britain is failing to protect vulnerable asylum seekers on its doorstep
LONDON
Britain is failing to protect vulnerable people around the world displaced by conflict, persecution and poverty, aid agencies have said.
A joint declaration by 13 agencies, including Oxfam, the British Refugee Council and Islamic Relief, said the U.K. was obliged to provide a safe haven to a fair share of refugees in addition to funding camps in countries like Lebanon and Jordan.
Oxfam's Head of Humanitarian Policy Maya Mailer said Britain was turning a “blind eye” to suffering on its doorstep.
According to a statement released by Oxfam, Mailer said: “The U.K. is trying to pretend that this is someone else's problem, and that refugees and migrants could and should be dealt with elsewhere.
“But people who are desperate will take huge risks to reach safety. The U.K. needs to accept its moral responsibility to offer a safe haven to the world's poorest and most vulnerable - men, women and children who have been made homeless by war, violence and disasters.”
The British government claims it is the world’s second-largest provider of aid to countries bordering Syria after the United States.
It has also pledged to accept 20,000 refugees directly from camps in the region until 2020, but the aid agencies argue it should resettle more.
According to the joint report, Britain so far dealt with just three percent of asylum applications made in the European Union in 2015, whereas Germany and Hungary processed over 50 percent in comparison.
It called on British authorities to develop a humanitarian visa scheme that would allow people to safely travel to the U.K. to claim asylum.
