British public praised for ‘most generous response’ over refugee crisis

By The Press Association3rd September 2015News EnglandAsylum, Immigration, News England, Refugees / Asylum

From pensioners in Dorset offering their spare bedroom to a Syrian refugee, to cyclists in Cardiff travelling in convoy to donate bikes to migrants in Calais, the British public have been mobilising to help refugees.

As David Cameron’s Government comes under heavy criticism for failing to do enough to tackle the crisis, charities say they have experienced “unprecedented” offers of help from ordinary Britons.

Laura Padoan from the UNHCR, which is providing food, water and help to refugees fleeing Syria and elsewhere, said the organisation has seen a major spike in donations over the past week.

She told the Press Association: “I’ve worked for the UNHCR for more than seven years and, to be honest, this is the most generous response I’ve seen in terms of the way it has touched people and their willingness to offer help on a very personal level.

“The public has responded very generously. We are receiving calls and emails and people contacting us over Twitter in the UK to ask how they can help.

“We have had pensioners in Dorset and in Tunbridge Wells saying that they have a spare room they could offer to Syrian refugees, and that they feel quite strongly that messages we are hearing from politicians don’t chime with their sense of needing to offer a welcome and a safe place for those people they are seeing in the news fleeing the war.

“They are not even people we would necessary consider activists in this area. It’s people who are going about their everyday lives who are opening newspapers, seeing images on the news, and being profoundly affected by the images they are seeing and want to send a very strong message of support and solidarity.

“It is incredibly generous and quite humbling as well.”

She said Britons are being moved to take action because the shocking images beamed across the world are “very much on Britain’s doorstep”.

Ms Padoan said the public’s response suggests the country is far more willing to welcome refugees than comments from politicians suggest.

The images of the three-year-old Syrian boy washed up on Turkey’s shore are so shocking it could prompt a sea-change in how we view the crisis, she added.

She said: “I think a lot of people will think about their own families and their own children in relation to those images. It is difficult for politicians to turn their backs on those kind of images and the very real tragedy that is happening.”

The Syrian refugee crisis is the worst the organisation has seen in 25 years and Britain needs to do more to offer homes to those fleeing violence and persecution, she warned.

She said: “We do feel there could be a much greater response in terms of offering or increasing the number of resettlement places, because that is the only way we’ll prevent people putting their lives at risk in the hands of smugglers.”

Alex Fraser, head of refugee support for the British Red Cross, echoed her concerns. He said the image of three year-old Syrian Aylan Kurdi washed up on the Turkish shore was “truly shocking” and was part of one of the “biggest humanitarian disasters of our time”.

He said: “Seeing the harrowing images of Aylan Kurdi was truly shocking. As a father, it left me feeling so deeply moved to see a child who should have his whole life ahead of him, dying in such appalling circumstances, trying to get away from danger.

“This devastating image has rocked many people’s perception of what it means to have to leave your home in search of safety and tragically these horrific scenes are being repeated every day away from the camera.

“We are in the midst of one of the biggest humanitarian disasters of our time. Governments, charities and members of the public can all play a part in easing this and it is vital that we do just that.”

Britons living abroad are also helping to provide aid and relief to refugees who are turning up in their thousands everyday.

Louis Harkell, 29, a business journalist originally from London but currently living in Munich in Germany, has been providing water, bread and nappies to families arriving from Hungary.

Speaking from Munich, he said: “At Munich central station Germans have been delivering supplies like water, nappies and bread. There was a place in the corner set up by volunteers who were distributing these supplies to people arriving at the station on trains from I think Hungary.

“There were a lot of people stopping in cars and unloading things from the boot.

“It was a big effort, it was quite impressive and quite moving as well, so that’s why I decided to do something to help out myself. So I went down and brought water, food and nappies to help.”

Charities that are offering support for refugees include: