Blog by Jack Tannock, media volunteer
Three million people have been forced to flee the horrendous situation in Syria – more than half the population of Scotland. One million of these are children.
At the Just Festival in Edinburgh today, humanitarian charity Mercy Corps is hosting an event called Syrians Without Syria. Our acting chief executive, Gary Christie, will be speaking on behalf of the Scottish Refugee Council about the crisis in Syria and how we in Scotland, the UK and the EU can best offer refugees a safe haven.
Unlike Mercy Corps, Scottish Refugee Council does not engage in humanitarian assistance in the field. We instead do a complementary job, which is to focus on refugees in Scotland and their integration and wellbeing. This includes many Syrians who have claimed asylum in the UK.
Claiming asylum is no bad thing
Gary will speak about the different options for Syrian refugees and the challenges posed by each of these. The talk will also look at the successful campaign to influence the UK Government to create the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme in January 2014.
Gary will also explore the way in which the media has portrayed Syrian refugees. Sometimes the press has been guilty of easy labelling of refugees who claim asylum in Europe as ‘bad refugees’ but often characterise those who remain in camps in the Middle East as ‘good refugees’. There seems to be a preference given to ‘passive’ victims, rather than those who show agency.
While he acknowledges the great importance of UK humanitarian assistance in this conflict, he plans to also stress that the UK and EU can do much more and play a bigger role in the protection of Syrian refugees.
What can be done?
Scottish Refugee Council believes that there must be:
• an increase in resettlement programmes;
• access granted to protection through embassies;
• more done to help family reunification;
• as much support given as possible to surrounding countries.
The talk will highlight that the audience – and anyone else interested – can get involved by writing to their MP to ask him or her to increase the UK’s support for Syrian refugees.
Write to your MP to request increased support for Syrian refugees and the Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme
