Frozen out of Britain: Syrian refugees turned away from UK
It is the worst refugee crisis since WWII – yet Britain has refused to join most other EU countries in being part of a UN resettlement programme for Syria’s 2.5 million displaced people.
Almost 2.5 million Syrians have been displaced by the fighting between pro- and anti-Assad fighters in Syria – most of them shivering in flimsy refugee camps.
The United Nations has appealed to more than a dozen wealthy nations to resettle just a fraction of those in the camps. But Britain has turned them down, refusing to join most other European Union countries in being part of a UN resettlement programme.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told MPs today that the United Kingdom, under its international obligations, has accepted around 1,500 asylum seekers from Syria, suggesting the country had done enough by already granting asylum to those who had made it to our shores.
But is he being disingenuous? And why, with the UK so generous when talking about military intervention, is it so decidedly singy on refugees?