Britain will accept 'thousands more' Syrian refugees

[lostinblue 1,989]

David Cameron announces Britain will accept 'thousands more' Syrian refugees

David Cameron has announced that Britain will take in "thousands more" Syrian refugees after an outpouring of public support for the UK to accept its fair share of those fleeing persecution.

The Prime Minister, speaking after a meeting with the Portuguese Prime Minister in Lisbon, said Britain "will act with our head and our heart" to help solve the growing humanitarian crisis stemming from the four-year civil war in Syria.

It has led to four million Syrians fleeing the country and risking their lives by crossing the Mediterranean as they seek sanctuary in Europe.

More than 2,500 refugees have drowned after trying to cross the Mediterranean so far this year - more than 1 per cent of those who have survived the journey The announcement this morning came after politicians of all parties and more than 250,000 ordinary Britons signed an Independent petition demanding he abandon his stance after the publication of horrifying photos of Aylan Kurdi, a dead Syrian boy who washed up on a Turkish beach.

Mr Cameron said Britain will continue its approach of taking in refugees from the camps in the countries surrounding Syria, where the vast majority of the four million displaced are located. It means the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who have made it to Europe will not be relocated to Britain.

He said taking refugees from camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey would help discourage refugees from taking the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean and would also help in the battle against illegal human traffic smugglers who are providing the hazardous routes to Europe.

However Mr Cameron failed to give any details on the exact number of places the UK would offer or where he intends to locate them, promising only to set out the details next week

Announcing his shift in stance, he said: "Given the scale of the crisis and the suffering of the people, today I can announce that we will do more – providing resettlement for thousands more Syrian refugees.

"We will continue with our approach of taking them from the refugee camps. This provides them with a more direct and safe route to the UK, rather than risking the hazardous journey which has tragically cost so many lives.

"We will discuss how best to design these schemes and the numbers we will take with NGOs and our partners. We will set out more details next week."

He added: "Britain will act with our head and our heart, providing refuge for those in need while working on long term solutions to this crisis.

"As I said earlier in the week, that means bringing to an end to the conflicts that are driving so many to flee, including the bloodbath that has engulfed Syria."

The United Nations refugee agency meanwhile appears to have suggested the UK will take 4,000 more refugees, although Downing Street has not confirmed this.

UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said: "We obviously welcome very much the move to increase resettlement spaces for Syrians in the UK. Those spaces are going to be critical to the lives and future of 4,000 people."

Downing Street neither denied nor confirmed the figure, refusing to give any more details from the Prime Minister's statement this morning. "We're not getting into specifics at the moment," a Number 10 spokesman said.

The spokesman refused to say whether a figure had been decided upon.

Mr Cameron's words were welcomed from those who have led the public's call for action, including Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, who has called for the UK to accept up to 10,000 refugees from Syria, but she insisted that the Prime Minister must be kept under pressure.

Ms Cooper has suggested that this figure can be achieved by each town in the UK and each London borough accepting 10 families each.

Not all were completely convinced by Mr Cameron's words, however. The author Bonnie Greer took to Twitter to mock the "great news from sun-tanned PM," who she described as "bewildered & out-of-touch".

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-announces-britain-will-accept-thousands-more-syrian-refugees-10486136.html

The United Nations refugee agency meanwhile appears to have suggested the UK will take 4,000 more refugees, although Downing Street has not confirmed this.

There are an estimated half million illegal entries into the United States each year.

Slackers .... The Brits should be able to tale a few million to do their part. They can do the jobs the Brits don't want to do .

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Typical. Everyone else has to clean up the mess created by the USA.

[-relo- 105]

Typical. Everyone else has to clean up the mess created by the USA.

created by the USA?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Is there an echo?

[decocker 7,198]

illegal entries and refugees are the same thing now. ..

[Alaska2012 462]

Thousands?? That's like taking a piss in the ocean! Germany are taking in a million refugees, a million! Hat off to Merkel!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Thousands?? That's like taking a piss in the ocean! Germany are taking in a million refugees, a million! Hat off to Merkel!

As in the US, in the UK there's a debate about immigration and a lot of people conflate economic migration with illegal immigration and refugee migrants.

But yes, we should take more.

[-relo- 105]

Is there an echo?

there may be. there is obviously some empty space involved.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Edited September 4, 2015 by Trumplestiltskin

[lostinblue 1,989]

illegal entries and refugees are the same thing now. ..

U.N. Officials Seek Refugee Label For Kids Coming Into America Alone

President Obama once declared children who illegally enter the United States a “humanitarian crisis,” but officials with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) hope that the United States and Mexico will soon view these kids as refugees. The designation could potentially pressure the two countries to consider granting asylum to many of the 52,000 Central American children who have fled their countries due to criminal violence and grinding poverty.

UNHCR officials hope to “discuss updating a 30-year-old declaration regarding the obligations nations have to aid refugees” on Thursday in Nicaragua. The Associated Press stated that “while such a resolution would lack any legal weight in the United States,” officials believe “the U.S. and Mexico should recognize that this is a refugee situation, which implies that they shouldn’t be automatically sent to their home countries but rather receive international protection.”

http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/07/08/3457440/un-officials-seek-refugee-status-for-kids-coming-into-america-alone/

[lostinblue 1,989]

As in the US, in the UK there's a debate about immigration and a lot of people conflate economic migration with illegal immigration and refugee migrants.

But yes, we should take more.

You need to take a few million ...Even more ... Open borders seems to be fine with you folks for the United States. ... Should be fine for you Brits also. .. You go first.

The 10 million-plus refugees from the fighting throughout the Middle East are in the need of a home . Give it a good try old chap....Just let who ever wants to come ... come.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Typical. Everyone else has to clean up the mess created by the USA.

I'm not sure I follow your "logic". How is this American's mess, exactly?

[lostinblue 1,989]

I'm not sure I follow your "logic". How is this American's mess, exactly?

I suspect that if Gaddafi was still in power ISIS would be in a vastly different situation as far as strength . Susan Rice ,Killary and Samantha Power decided his life was expendable..

[Rob L 3,811]

I'm not sure I follow your "logic". How is this American's mess, exactly?

It is established fact that the top military leaders for ISIS were Bathist Generals under SH.

The general theory is if these leaders were handled differently,the US could have dried up that resource

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/world/middleeast/army-know-how-seen-as-factor-in-isis-successes.html?_r=0&referrer=

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

It is established fact that the top military leaders for ISIS were Bathist Generals under SH.

The general theory is if these leaders were handled differently,the US could have dried up that resource

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/world/middleeast/army-know-how-seen-as-factor-in-isis-successes.html?_r=0&referrer=

"Handled differently" how? Capitulation? Execution?