March 2022
Urgent Call To Action - Ukraine Crisis
Above is an image from the children's and maternity hospital after it was destroyed by bombing.
The war in Ukraine is a stark reminder that people can be forced to leave their homes overnight and that anyone can become a refugee. Yet the UK government has chosen to send a clear message to refugees from Ukraine and elsewhere that they are not welcome.
The Ukraine refugee crisis looks to be the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War Two. With bombs targeting civilians, people are fleeing for their lives. Over 2M people have escaped the country, and as many five million could flee in the coming weeks, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR. On the border with Ukraine, Poland has received over 1.3 million refugees and Hungary over 200,000. Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, has accepted over 80,000 refugees. And yet only 300 Ukrainians with family connections fleeing the fighting had been granted visas by the UK (as of 7 March).
Seven decades ago in 1951, the UK and other countries came together to sign the UN convention on refugees. It sets out that how a person arrives seeking protection does not matter. What matters is why – escaping war, conflict and oppression. Yet we have a government that shows a callous disregard for the convention. It isn't giving all Ukrainians fleeing violence the opportunity to come to our country as a refugee. By setting up a limited and restricted family scheme and making a vague promise to establish some kind of humanitarian sponsorship programme, its response looks out of touch with the tidal wave of anger over the UK's response to the Ukraine Crisis.
At the same time, it is pushing ahead with its cruel nationality and borders bill, which will undermine the right to refugee protection and criminalise Ukrainians, Afghans and others who, through no fault of their own, are forced to make their own way to safety and arrive without all the necessary documentation. Now, more than ever, is the time to strengthen, not weaken, our commitment to the UN convention on refugees, and ensure that we provide protection to those who have lost everything.
We have a chance to change that.
On Monday 14 March 2022, the Nationality and Borders Bill will start its final stages through Parliament before becoming law - there is still a chance for all of us to play a part in stopping some of the most damaging parts of the Bill.
Positive Action in Housing, and refugee networks across the country, are calling on the government to remove clause 11 from the bill, that would punish future refugees simply because of how they arrive here. We're also calling for safe routes and want the government to commit to resettling at least 10,000 refugees from around the world, every year.
Amendments on both these calls have been won in the House of Lords, and support for these are growing ahead of key votes in the House of Commons. But we must ramp up pressure in Westminster and, crucially, in MPs' local constituencies to translate the rising public mood into votes in Parliament. A huge effort by all of us can make that happen.
Now it's up to our MPs to ACT.
Please write to your MP NOW and urge them to vote for more safe routes for refugees escaping war and conflict all over the world. Just visit www.writetothem.com, and use this draft letter to write to your MP, and amend it to make it more personal.
Want to take the next step to supporting refugees?
- Please register to offer free shelter to refugees in your home or property - we run a safe, secure hosting programme, and have safely sheltered 4,000 refugees since 2002, the longest running programme with over 12,000 hosts and counting - in fact we pioneered refugee hosting in the UK.
- Donate to our Refugee Crisis Appeal today.
- Sign up to our mailing list for news and information on our campaigns.
Best wishes and kind regards
Robina Qureshi
Chief Executive
Positive Action in Housing
