Rowan Williams and over 200 others write to Theresa May to urge the UK to do more to welcome refugees
A group of over 200 faith leaders led by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, have written an open letter to Prime Minister Theresa May urging the Government to do more to welcome refugees.
The website http://interfaithrefugeeinitiative.org/ has the letter in full.
The letter called on May to revise Government policy, stating: "As people of faith, we call on your Government urgently to revise its policy towards refugees. 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. We rejoice in the mosaic of different faiths and British communities that we now represent. We are proud that in May 2016, in a survey by Amnesty International, 83% of Britons said they would welcome refugees into their neighbourhoods and households."
It continued: "In the face of the unfolding human catastrophe, there are immediate and viable steps that the Government can take to offer sanctuary to more refugees. We call on you to create safe, legal routes of travel, for example by adopting fair and humane family reunion policies for refugees. Under the present immigration rules, a British doctor of Syrian origin could not bring her parents from a refugee camp in Lebanon – even though they were refugees and she could support and house them. A Syrian child who arrived alone in the UK could not bring his parents from a refugee camp in Jordan – even if the child were recognised a refugee and even though his parents were themselves refugees. Families in these situations can currently be reunited only by resorting to desperately unsafe irregular journeys, sometimes ending in avoidable tragedies."
The letter set out the following four refugee principles, which it urged the Government to adhere to.
1. The UK should take a fair and proportionate share of refugees, both those already within Europe and those still outside it.
2. Safe and legal routes to the UK, as well as to the rest of Europe, need to be established.
3. Safe and legal routes within Europe, including the UK, should be established.
4. There should be access to fair and thorough procedures to determine eligibility for international protection wherever it is sought.
The faith leaders note that 350 judges and lawyers are among those who have endorsed the principles.
Speaking at the launch of the letter at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, Rowan Williams was quoted by ITV News as saying: "We make (the proposal) because the pace seems very slow at the moment in responding to this crisis. We have had several months of discussion about the reuniting of children with parents. We have, as yet, very little to show for it.
"The refugee issue is not going to go away, however much we put our fingers in our ears and screw our eyes tight shut - that is not going to change. Turning people away does not solve the problem, it shifts the burden very often in the world we currently live in on to those less able to bear it than we are."