Refugees

Easy enough for us to say, sitting at home and complaining on our computers.
UNHCR is in charge of coordinating the actions of every other charity and aid group. It also relies on donations from all the countries involved. It asked for 4.5 billion this year and has had less than 2.2 so far.
The UK has given less than Denmark, a country with one tenth the population.

Yes, Liverpool might be able to take more than 100, but at least it has offered. One of the statements by Carswell was about the bidding wars. The interviewer asked him if he'd heard correctly. We do not want bidding wars; we want action.

The UN. Couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery springs to mind.

i think a lot of people are wondering Petra

DJ I thought that was your forte- 'sitting at home and complaining on your computer'

Can you provide a link for that statement about UK donations to UNHCR DJ because my research says you are wrong.

As I'm scrolling through this thread an intrusive advert is flashing on top of the screen offering free visas with 'indefinite leave to stay'. Has GN sold this space to some dodgy trafficking company?

No, Jane, that will be the google "relevant ads" thing that automatically puts up ads linked to words on the page. It is a damn nuisance, but in theory you can opt out of it. I forget how, but there has been a thread on it previously.

At the moment it is exhorting me to buy tickets for the Edinburgh Cycle Fest. no idea where it got the idea that i would want to go to that.

It's offering me 'better knees in 6 weeks?'. Yes please.

The article pkheaduk linked to is well worth reading. Makes you realise that many of comparatively young and fit men are not only out for themselves.

The UK has now committed £800 million to help those affected by the conflict. This is the UK’s largest ever response to a humanitarian crisis. This funding is providing support including food, medical care and relief items for over a million people including those affected by the fighting in Syria, as well as to refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq
and this was last year:
Britain's £600 million makes it the second largest national donor to date after the United States, which has contributed just over £1 billion. It is by far the biggest donor in the EU, having pledged almost three times that of Germany, the second-largest donor, which has donated £204 million to date

Britain has a history of helping genuine refugees over many years:
50,000 Hugeunots
120,000 Jews fleeing Eastern Europe
Refugees from Turkey and Armenia
Thousands of Basque children fleeing Spain in the Civil War
80,00 Jews fleeing from Germany
Polish refugees
Latvian refugees
Hungarian refugees (one of them my friend)
30,00 Ugandan Asians
Vietnamese refugees
Bosnian refugees
Albanian refugees
Kosovan refugees
etc

Do we need a lecture from Germany on humanitarianism?

The UK has granted more immigrants citizenship than Germany has to its 'guest workers'.
Germany has a declining birth rate and its population had fallen over about 15 years.
The population of the UK has gone up by about 5 million during the same period.

I think Yvette Cooper's idea of accepting genuine refugees to the UK and helping them integrate is a good one - although they may of course be happier closer to people who have experienced the same horrors as them, not being separated.

The huge problem is the numbers which increase day by day - and of finding out who are genuine refugees and who are not.

absentgrandma - Your xenophobia against the French is appalling. Shame on you…!!

Emma Thompson, on Newsnight last night, made the point that the crisis we have now is as nothing to what could happen if global warming continues to ravage sub-Saharan Africa. If the fertility of these lands withers away with rising temperatures, people will have no option but to migrate north, probably risking everything to do so. And Europe will throw up the barricades as never before. Fortress Europe is a frightening thought.

Last month I was involved in a huge community choirs concert in Hereford Cathedral. We commissioned a new work, which was on the theme of Polish integration into Britain after the war. This is the final song from it - as I write it I can hear the music, but maybe it will appeal to others without that. The composer's message is clear.

There is a world outside our door
A whole wide world we can't ignore
A world that is weary -
weary of travelling through thick and thin

And in this world beyond our view
People like me and people like you
Are endlessly searching
Searching for somewhere
They've never been.

What of this world we've bought and sold.
It never was ours to withhold
For we are but keeping,
Keeping the flame,
The fire within.

We've got to share this road we're on;
Give all we've got before it's gone.
When your neighbour comes knocking,
Open the door and let them in.

For people will come and people will go
The waters of life will ebb and they'll flow
So don't turn your back and pretend you don't know
What's going on.
It isn't by chance, it isn't by fate.
They're running from something they didn't create
We're all that they've got
So don't close the gate
And wish them gone.

One thing I know...
people will come, people will go.

Gave me goosebumps, Luckygirl.
Any way to get the music?

As others have said many of these refugees are fleeing from countries where they are unable to get passports and/or exit visas. They cannot board a plane without the correct documentation so come anyway they can.

Many years ago I lived through a revolution with my husband and children albeit a fairly peaceful one compared to what is happening in Syria and Iraq. For several months we were unable to leave for various reasons but were desperate to get our children out of that situation. If we had been facing the lawlessness and bombing occurring today in many countries we might have considered unorthodox methods to escape. When myself and the children were able to return to England we were refugees of a sort having left everything behind, though luckily not in the dire straits of those we see on our screens today. And when my husband was finally able to join us he had no difficulty gaining admission. Now I know how lucky we were even though apart from a few short visits many years later we never went back.

I have counted my blessings many times since then and when I see the harrowing footage of today's refugees my heart aches for them. In most cases their desperation and anguish is all too visible and I can only thank my God that our situation was so much easier. I pray that the world's leaders will find a fair solution.

Rosequartz, excellent post, far from contributing nothing, we are the biggest donor country!

both Britain and the US have certainly done a lot in the past for refugees.

now we ALL need to consider what can be done for today's refugees.

That needed to be said, rosequartz. There's no reason for the whole of the UK to be wearing sackcloth and ashes and feeling 'ashamed' about the country's perceived lack of contribution to the refugee crisis.

I don't think we should feel ashamed, and I think the whole situation is becoming out of control and needs a united, considered approach, not a knee-jerk approach - as a matter of urgency.

What are all these 'united' bodies for if they can't unite in a crisis?

As long as the traffickers are profiting it will escalate.

DJ have you managed to find that link I asked for?

Answer came there none...

DJ please can you give me the link that backs up your post re the UK's v Denmark's contribution. I am even more confused having seen the report on the BBC news which stated that the UK aid to Syrian refugee camps is more than any other country.

www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendocPDFViewer.html?docid=558a639f9&query=funding%20by%20Denmark

That's how much each country had given by the date, June, I think it was.

Thank you DJ Figures up to 2012 show that the UK gave more than Denmark. Since then it has given over £900 million directly to the area in response to the Syrian Crisis. I think you will agree this is a considerable amount.

Fact Sheet UK humanitarian aid in response to the Syria Crisis