100 signatures reached
To: MPs Philip Hammond, Justine Greening, James Brokenshire and Theresa May.
Mount a rescue operation for Syrian refugees
This petition calls upon the UK government to help mount a rescue operation for Syrian refugees.
We are asking that you work with other European Union member states to establish a Europe-wide humanitarian evacuation and resettlement programme, giving the most vulnerable Syrian refugees the chance to live in safety again, in substantially larger numbers than you are at present. This needs to go further than simply agreeing to accept quotas, which leaves refugees to undertake perilous journeys which they may not survive. According to The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, close to 3,000 people are known to have drowned or gone missing crossing the Mediterranean and Aegean seas this year. We call on the EU to mount comprehensive rescue operations as close to the Syrian borders as practicably possible, without endangering the personnel working on these operations. This needs to include land, rail, sea and air transport to transfer refugees to places of safety inside the EU.
If it was happening to us, we would expect to be rescued. Let’s extend that protection to the people of Syria.
Why is this important?
The conflict in Syria has resulted in the greatest humanitarian crisis in a generation. It has led to millions of displaced people living outside the borders of the country, including appallingly high numbers of children. The figures are truly shocking:
More than 4,000,000 refugees from Syria (95% of the total) are in just five countries: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt (Amnesty International September 2015). This influx is having a devastating impact on these countries (UNHCR 2013).
Around 220,000 people have been killed and 12.8 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria.
More than 50% of Syria’s population is currently displaced.
In total, 104,410 resettlement places have been offered globally since the start of the Syria crisis, which equates to a mere 2.6% of the total population of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey (Amnesty 2015).
1,168,996 children were living as refugees outside Syria in 2013, the figure is likely to be far higher now.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres has said: “Syria has become the great tragedy of this century – a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history.”
When history looks back on what we did to assuage this terrible crisis, let's show Britain as a compassionate nation that doesn't sit back and watch a tragedy unfold, but one that holds out its arms and shares its resources with the Syrian people.
