On Thursday 17th September 2015, the Department for International Development held a briefing on the UK’s humanitarian response to the crisis in Syria. The International Development Minister, Desmond Swayne provided an overview of the UK’s £1 billion in aid to the region which includes support for Syrian refugees. The aid includes providing food, water, medical care, relief items and sanitation for people in need within Syria, as well as across the region, places such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
As well as providing the Syrian refugees with access to clean water, healthcare and sanitation, Desmond Swayne mentioned how it was important for the children of refugees to be able to have good access to a school that will provide them with an education. He said, “The main effort, as I see it, has not been just to provide food, shelter, healthcare counselling, protection particularly for women and vulnerable people; the main effort is in the No Loss Generation Initiative, in getting education for the children of refugees and getting them registered in Jordanian and Lebanese schools.”
There have been many people who have acquired false documents and lied that they were Syrian in order to get help and have access to European countries. There have been a lot of people-trafficking taking place, forcing people to travel through excruciating circumstances which prove detrimental to their health and at times lead to unfortunate deaths. Desmond Swayne feels it is important to tackle people trafficking and mentioned how the British Government should work with the UNHCR (United Nation High Commission for Refugees) in order to help vulnerable Syrians and bring them over to Europe directly, instead of having them take the negative route and be exploited by people traffickers.
On being questioned whether the Syrian migrants will have a hostile welcome in Britain, similar to what Black and Asian migrants had initially faced, Desmond Swayne disagreed and believed Britain is more than warm towards Syrian migrants. He said, “I think we’re actually very welcoming. Certainly if you speak to younger people, they are much more open; they’ve grown up in a multi-ethnic country, they don’t have this sort of view that life was somehow better in the 1950s. I think there won’t be a difficulty integrating people… I think the response from the British people is very good and very welcoming. The Government has just got to be a little bit more careful about what we could actually manage to handle and organise efficiently and effectively.
