UK Foreign Minister William Hague also warned British citizens to NOT go to Syria. Is he worried about British citizens joining the Jihadists?
Yesterday, UK Minister of Foreign Affairs Hague signaled that the United Kingdom would be looking to possibly resettle “vulnerable” Syrian refugees. Whether the general public, which largely does not support more immigration (Syrians this time), will be persuaded I suppose rests on the definition of “vulnerable” and for how long they will be allowed to stay. Will this be permanent resettlement?
William Hague, the minister for foreign affairs, has confirmed the government is working on a plan to accept “particularly vulnerable” refugees from Syria.
The government had been resisting the idea of accepting refugees for months, but the senior Conservative party MP said the government was now actively considering which Syrian people should be allowed to come to Britain. It comes after Prime Minister, David Cameron, signalled a partial retreat over the issue under pressure from a cross-party group of politicians, saying he was now “open-minded” about accepting the injured, particularly children.
Speaking on BBC TV’s Andrew Marr (politics) Show, Hague revealed that plans were under way to bring over some refugees, but stressed the main priority would be providing aid to the region.
“The home secretary (minister for domestic affairs) is working on that, and will have more to say about that in the coming days,” he said. “I think there is a case for particularly helping people who are particularly vulnerable. I think we have to look at it in that way.”
Frankly, I think it’s the Muslims the average British citizen sees as NOT “particularly vulnerable.”
Syrian asylum seekers block the port of Calais, demand entry into the UK. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10357103/UK-border-police-to-consider-entry-for-Syrian-refugees-waiting-in-Calais.html
A new poll shows that most Brits want to either “keep the door firmly shut” against Syrian “asylum seekers,” or don’t know, as British politicians are warming to the idea under withering pressure from the humanitarian industrial complex.
“Some European countries are agreeing to each admit a few hundred of the people in the Syrian refugee camps. Do you think the United Kingdom should or should not also agree to admit a few hundred refugees from Syria to settle here?”
The answer? The British public are a lot less keen than some of our political leaders.
Just 39% of us think we’ve got room for a few hundred displaced Syrians. 47% think we should refuse to admit them, and 14% don’t know. Supporters of Ukip were more inclined to say no – 71% did – and over half of the Tory voters polled also said we should keep the door firmly shut.
Those demonstrators at Calais, France last fall sure didn’t help the cause of Syrian “refugees.”
Someone should do a poll in America! Should the US take thousands of Syrians this year? I think the results would be very similar to those found in the UK.
We’ve written several posts over the last few years (here) about how Switzerland is trying to save itself from being swamped by needy refugees, many from Muslim countries. They did however agree to take a small number of Syrians over three years, but those numbers are now getting out of control. (Be sure to see our previous post about the rich pretending to be refugees at Davos this week.)
Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Switzerland for so-called ‘Peace talks’ on Syria, then immediately stirred anger.
Interesting timing that this story should be published just as ‘Peace talks’take place in the country since these decisions were actually made late last year.
LUCERNE, Switzerland , Jan 23 2014 (IPS) – Switzerland facilitated family reunification for Syrians in September. So far, more than 1,100 Syrian refugees have benefited from the programme, while thousands are waiting at Swiss embassies in the region, hoping for a similar chance. Surprised by these numbers, Switzerland put an end to the programme.
Several European countries responded to an appeal by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last summer to admit Syrian refugees. Switzerland announced it would accept 500 “especially vulnerable refugees” over three years.
Further, the country that hosts about 2,000 citizens of Syrian origin pledged to open its borders for their relatives. By the end of November, Swiss embassies in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan had granted 1,600 Syrians a three-month entry visa.
At least 1,100 of these have already travelled to Switzerland. A further 5,000 Syrians have applied for appointments at Swiss embassies to file similar visa requests.
Either Swiss authorities were surprised by these numbers, or considered their humanitarian action short-lived. Already in early November, they introduced bureaucratic hurdles: Swiss-based Syrians who had invited their relatives now needed to meet certain financial requirements.
“Looking at the size of an average Syrian family, these requirements constitute a killer criteria,” said Beat Meiner, secretary-general of the Swiss Refugee Council (SFH). “Few of the Swiss-based Syrians have enough money to clear these hurdles.”
I think that is exactly why the Swiss don’t want more refugees—they bring poverty and a need for more social services. Not to mention the cultural conflicts already happening.
As the World Economic Forumgets underway in Davos, Switzerland, the rich and famous will have an opportunity to pretend they are refugees thanks to a charity from Hong Kong—Crossroads Foundation. (I wonder if some of George Soros’ shell organizations are lurking behind this NGO.)
Sheryl Sandberg: Refugee for a day (30 minutes actually)
Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg may be the world’s newest billionaire, but she will mark the occasion fighting for food and scrabbling in dirt with machine guns pointed in her face. She is one of the global leaders in Davos scheduled to attend “Refugee Run”, an immersive and distressing descent into daily life in a camp for displaced persons.
Organised by the Crossroads Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation based in Hong Kong, Refugee Run is designed to make you look beyond the abstraction of data, such as the two million Syrians displaced from their war-torn homeland.
Crossroads believes that only when world leaders experience the chaotic conditions refugees endure will they experience real empathy and act.
Acting is fine. Rich people sending money is fine. Finding solutions to the never-ending Middle Eastern civil wars is fine (good luck!), but moving mostly Muslims into western countries is not fine.
And, get this, we heard exactly these same words only a few years ago about the Iraqi refugees!
Of particular concern at this year’s World Economic Forum is the growing crisis with Syrian refugees. Seven leading aid agencies and human rights groups issued a joint statement yesterday describing the humanitarian crisis in Syria as “the worst of our time”.
They probably just re-wrote some old press release from their Iraq days!
Every day our news alerts are jam-packed with the latest stories on the SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS. Here is a little round-up of the latest news.
MP Yvette Cooper, leader of the revolt: Bring in the Syrians!
Great Britain: ‘MP’s revolt over failure to admit Syrian refugees’:
The Coalition is under mounting pressure from Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs to perform a U-turn to allow some Syrian refugees to come to Britain.
Mark Harper, the immigration minister, angered some MPs yesterday by saying the United Nations plan for Western countries to accept 30,000 of the 2.3 million Syrian refugees would have only a “token impact”. [Then the you-know-what hit the fan—ed]
Lebanon: ‘U.N.: Syrian refugee’s murder of son highlights desperation’:
BEIRUT: The case of a Syrian man who was arrested Tuesday for strangling his 8-month-old son because he was crying reflects the desperate plight of refugees, UNICEF’s spokesperson said.
According to security sources refugee Hasan Ayesh strangled his son late Monday in his home in Minyara, in the northern province of Akkar, reportedly because the boy wouldn’t stop crying.
Mind you, it’s all about his status as a refugee, not the possibility that he might be a brute or mentally unstable to begin with. Sheesh!
David Miliband head honcho of the International Rescue Committee told Morning Joe that the international community must “massively scale up” its response. But, surprisingly he never mentioned his organization’s testimony in the Senate recently to resettle 12,000 Syrians here this year. I’m wondering if they have done polling that tells them not to mention bringing them here!
In light of upcoming international peace talks between the opposing sides in Syria’s civil war, former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the numbers of refugees resulting from the war has created a “regional crisis” that demands attention.
“This is a regional crisis that demands a big international engagement,” Miliband, who is president and CEO of aid agency International Rescue Committee, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday.
The conflict in Syria has resulted in a “scale of brutality … that hasn’t been seen for a very long time,” Miliband said.
As a result, millions of people are taking refuge in neighboring countries. He called for the international response to be “massively scaled up.”
You can watch Morning Joe’s interview, here. Joe doesn’t look too worked up.
Russia: ‘Russia grants asylum to almost 500 Syrian refugees – FMS’:
This is a surprise, I wonder if they are taking mostly Christians since they don’t have a burning desire for more Muslims.
The number of Syrian refugees seeking asylum in Russia is on the rise, head of the Federal Migration Service Moscow department Olga Kirillova said.
“Due to the exacerbation of the sociopolitical situation in Syria, the number of citizens seeking asylum on the territory of Russia has grown significantly,” she said.
More than 1,000 Syrian citizens filed refuge requests with the Federal Migration Service Moscow department in 2013 and 478 were granted temporary asylum, she added.
Bulgaria: ‘Bulgaria Begins Construction of Border Fence with Turkey’:
The construction of the wire fence at the Bulgarian – Turkish border will begin on January 20, Minister of Defense Angel Naydenov announced.
“The site preparatory work and the construction of the facility will start Monday,” Naydenov said, cited by Focus News Agency.
The construction period will stretch over 45-60 days depending on the weather conditions.
Border fences can be built pretty quickly if a country is motivated.
Sweden: ‘Syria crisis: Influx of refugees into Swedish town’:
Some Swedish towns are struggling to cope with an influx of Syrian refugees, after the government there guaranteed asylum to fugitives from the civil war.
The right-wing Swedish Democrat party claims ethnic Swedes are angry at the cost of social benefits and rising pressures on schools, housing and health care.
In the past eight years, the town of Sodertalje has accepted three times more refugees than Sweden’s biggest cities.
