The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Syrian refugees to arrive in UK within week

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The first of “several hundred” Syrian refugees to be brought to Britain as part of a Government scheme to relocate some of the most vulnerable people fleeing the bloody civil war are expected to arrive with weeks.

The high-profile scheme was announced in January after concerted political pressure by the Labour Party and a powerful coalition of aid agencies and charities.

The campaign, which was supported by The Independent, forced the Government to perform a major U-Turn and open the UK’s doors to vulnerable women and girls who had experienced or were at risk from sexual violence, the elderly, the disabled and survivors of torture.

David Cameron was forced to overrule objection from Theresa May, the Home Secretary, after sustained pressure and an “unprecedented” open letter signed by 25 aid agencies and refugee groups. The letter, published in The Independent, urged the Government to join 18 western countries backing the UNHCR’s resettlement programme.

At the time the Prime Minister said the UK act with “the greatest urgency” in offering the “most needy people” a “home in our country”. Now responding to a written parliamentary question from shadow home affairs minister David Hanson, Home Office minister James Brokenshire, said the Government has “worked with partners including the UNHCR and local authorities to ensure that the support, services and accommodation they [the Syrian refugees] need are in place before they arrive in the UK”.

However Britain did not join the UNHRC programme to resettle 30,000 Syrian refugees. It has spent the last eight weeks establishing its own Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme, to the dismay of some refugee organisations who have accused the Government of “dragging its feet”.

The Independent now understands the new scheme could take as long as three years to relocate “several hundred” refugees, rather than a figure of 500, which many aid organisations had hoped for.

David Hanson, shadow immigration minister, told The Independentthat “while it’s welcome that some of the most vulnerable women and children displaced by the terrible Syrian conflict may soon be able to enter the UK, it is unacceptable that after the Prime Minister promised to act swiftly it’s taken the Government nearly four months to accept refugees because of their insistence on setting up their own separate scheme.”

A spokesperson for The Refugee Council, which helped co-ordinate the letters in The Independent, said “For each man, woman and child who comes to the UK through the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme, their resettlement place will be life changing, if not life-saving.

“We hope the Government will continue to respond to the growing need in the region by facilitating the timely arrival of a substantial number of refugees to enable them to rebuild their lives in safety.”

independent