UNHCR Syrian Refugees Programme

Baroness May of Maidenhead Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May)]

No one chooses to be a refugee. The women and men pouring across Syria’s borders are the innocent victims of a conflict in which the vast majority have played no part. In many cases, they flee because their towns have been pulverised, their children’s schools destroyed, their hospitals bombed and their supplies of food and water cut off. They have lost relatives. Many have been injured. Some have survived the first use of chemical weapons this century. Their suffering, inflicted on people who are no different from us in their desire for peace, security and freedom, is hard for any of us to imagine.

As hon. Members in all parts of the House have said, this is a humanitarian catastrophe with no end currently in sight. At stake are the lives of millions of innocent people and security in the middle east, all of which has an impact on us here in the UK. The question is: what can we do, as the United Kingdom, to address these problems? The answer, above all, as I made clear in my statement earlier today, and as my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have also explained, must be that we work to end the conflict. Her Majesty’s Government are using diplomacy and humanitarian aid to carry out that work, and are taking measures to protect the security of our own country.

The United Kingdom is taking a leading role in addressing this crisis. At the United Nations Security Council, we and our partners are urging Russia to work with us to end the conflict, and we are pressing for full and unfettered humanitarian access. As members of the core group of the Friends of Syria, we are instrumental in supporting a moderate opposition, without which there can be no political settlement in that country, only the murderous tyranny offered by Assad or the warped ideology of terrorist extremists and foreign fighters seeking to exploit the violence. In addition, we are saving countless lives through our humanitarian assistance.

Britain has indeed been leading the world in responding to the disaster. We are the second largest bilateral donor, after the United States. We are providing £600 million for the Syrian relief effort and to help neighbouring countries, which are supporting those who have sought refuge there, to meet the needs of those refugees and bolster their own security. This effort has united support across the House. Right hon. and hon. Members have rightly expressed their considerable concern, and I commend those on all sides of the House who have done much to raise the issue and keep the plight of innocent Syrians in our thoughts.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

I thank the Home Secretary for taking an intervention. Her doing so allows me to say how much I appreciate the statement she is making today and the way in which it has unified the House on the significant part of her speech. That will be welcomed in Wales, where there is a long tradition and history of supporting peoples who are being displaced and threatened by humanitarian crisis.

[Mrs May]

I thank my hon. Friend for his comments and for his reference to the tradition in Wales of supporting people who are refugees from humanitarian conflicts.

Earlier this month a team of MPs, led by my hon. Friend the Member for The Cotswolds (Geoffrey Clifton-Brown), travelled to the Syrian border in Turkey to see how refugees there are being helped by humanitarian aid. The Select Committee on International Development also held a special oral evidence session focusing on the British response, and I commend my hon. Friend the Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard) for his campaigning on this issue. It is clear that everyone in the House understands the obligation this country and the international community has towards helping the Syrian people during this time of great crisis.

Last week the Prime Minister was clear that given the scale of the current refugee crisis, with more than 11 million Syrians in dire need of humanitarian aid, the greatest need is in the region—that is where we can make the deepest impact. He was equally clear that, where there are particularly compelling cases of vulnerable people at grave risk, we will look at those cases. Earlier today, I announced to the House that, following consultations with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in London, the Government will be launching a new programme to provide emergency sanctuary in the UK for particularly vulnerable displaced Syrians, including women and girls at risk, survivors of torture and violence, and children at risk or in need of medical care.

[Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con)]

I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement earlier today on providing emergency sanctuary for vulnerable refugees in co-operation with the UNHCR. I wonder whether, now or later in her speech, she can tell the House what role she envisages for the voluntary sector at a local level in the effort to help refugees with their transition to our country?

[Mrs May]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question. It is indeed the case that the voluntary sector will play an important role. The prime focus of interaction in various parts of the country—on, for example, ensuring that accommodation is available—will be local authorities, but voluntary groups will have a very important role to play. Indeed, it is part of the Government’s ethos to look to work with voluntary groups, because of the quality of support that they can give in such circumstances.

[Mr John Leech (Manchester, Withington) (LD)]

Following on from that point, may I urge the Home Office to discuss with the sizeable Syrian community around the UK what help and support it can give to incoming refugees?

[Mrs May]

I thank my hon. Friend for that important point. When people come to another country in these circumstances, when they are fleeing from violence and are particularly vulnerable, working with those who have a similar background and who will be able to welcome them here to the UK is an important part of our work.

[Mr MacNeil]

Although the right hon. Lady has not confirmed a date for when people might arrive, I hope the door is open from now. Given the importance of this matter, has she discussed with the Scottish Government how they might play their full part and how the Scottish national health service might be ready to deal with the needs of refugees if and when they come to Scotland, which I hope they do?

[Mrs May]

I am happy to say to the hon. Gentleman that, as I indicated earlier, we will be talking to both the Welsh and Scottish Governments. My hon. Friend the Minister for Immigration will be writing to the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland Administrations on this matter.

I recognise that a number of hon. Members were in the House earlier for my statement, but I reiterate that the vulnerable person relocation scheme will be based on three principles. First, to ensure our assistance helps those refugees at greatest risk, it will focus on individual cases where evacuation from the region is the only option. Secondly, it will be run in addition to the two resettlement programmes we currently operate in partnership with the UNHCR: the UK’s gateway protection resettlement programme, which resettles a number of refugees from a small number of targeted locations every year; and the smaller mandate resettlement scheme, which is designed to resettle individual refugees who have been recognised by UNHCR and have a close family member in the UK who is willing to accommodate them. Thirdly, because we want to focus our assistance on the most vulnerable people, we do not intend to subscribe to a quota scheme. Instead, our programme will run in parallel with the UNHCR’s own Syria humanitarian admission programme, and will be carried out in close consultation with UNHCR offices in London, Geneva and in the region.

I want to be clear that we are not signing up wholesale to the UNHCR’s existing scheme, because we think we can best contribute through a complementary scheme focusing on the most vulnerable cases. Our scheme is, however, entirely consistent with the UNHCR’s wider programme and we have its full support. Indeed, the UNHCR’s representative to the UK, Roland Schilling, has welcomed

“the announcement of the UK government to provide refuge to some of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees, in cooperation with UNHCR.”

He has said:

“This decision will help to provide much needed solutions for vulnerable Syrian refugees many of whom have been deeply traumatised and face immense hardship. It is also a concrete and important gesture of solidarity and burden sharing with the countries neighbouring Syria as they continue to bear the brunt of the refugee crisis.”

Others, including the chief executive of the Refugee Council, have also welcomed our action today.

With widespread support for our approach, including from the UNHCR, I hope the shadow Home Secretary and other hon. Members will agree that this scheme is clearly within the spirit of today’s motion. Now is not the time for politics, but for sending a clear message that the United Kingdom will continue to do its bit to help those who are suffering. On that basis, I hope that nobody thinks it necessary or appropriate to divide the House on this issue.

[Catherine McKinnell]

I thank the Home Secretary for giving way. There is absolutely no doubt that today’s announcement will be welcomed by everyone in this House and by constituents who have contacted us with their concerns. Does she accept, however, that there are still concerns about the UK’s failure to sign up to the UNHCR programme, and will she acknowledge that those concerns have not been fully addressed by what she has said today?

[Mrs May]

I have to say to the hon. Lady that the key people we should look to, to see if they are concerned, are those in the UNHCR. The UNHCR has been absolutely clear that it does not have any concerns about us not signing up to its programme. It has welcomed the scheme that we are putting together. I think that across the country people will welcome the fact that the Government have recognised the plight of Syrian refugees and have been willing to take this action, particularly with a focus on those who are most vulnerable.

In addition to the scheme announced today, we continue to consider asylum claims under our normal rules. We have a proud tradition of giving sanctuary to people in genuine need, and since the crisis began, we have taken in nearly 3,500 asylum seekers—the fourth highest in the EU—with 1,100 Syrian nationals recognised as refugees in the year to September 2013. Where Syrian nationals were working or studying in this country when the conflict broke out, we have also made it easier for them to stay here until there is a resolution to the crisis.

As Ministers have said consistently, we believe that the best way of reaching the greatest number of people is by focusing humanitarian efforts on the region, and that is the only realistic way in which the rights of the vast majority of displaced persons can be safeguarded. Let me outline what the £600 million that Britain is providing is helping to provide.

[Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)]

I commend the Home Secretary on today’s very welcome announcement, but I want to ask her about the wider issue of humanitarian aid. I visited Zaatari refugee camp not long ago and witnessed at first hand the extent of the UK aid to Syrian refugees. Does she share the concern that I and others, including many of my constituents, have about the level of help being given by other EU member states and others in the international community? As well has taking refugees, they need to contribute more financially to help those in the greatest need.

[Mrs May]

The right hon. Gentleman makes an important point. We can be proud of what we have done. As I indicated earlier, our £600 million is the second largest bilateral contribution—second only to the United States—and I agree that other countries need to look at what help they are providing.

[Angus Robertson]

rose—

[Mrs May]

I suspect the hon. Gentleman might make the point he made earlier, but I will give way to him.

[Angus Robertson]

I want to help the Home Secretary with a suggestion I have made before to the Foreign Secretary. Why do the Government or international organisations not keep a running total showing which countries have pledged and which have already transferred funds, making it all much more transparent?

[Mrs May]

We have the totals of what has been pledged by countries around the world. For example, the UK, with its £600 million, is, as I have said, the second largest contributor, whereas Germany, which the hon. Gentleman mentioned earlier, is contributing the equivalent of £350 million—less than us—in humanitarian aid.

Thanks to our funding, food, water, shelter and medicine are being provided to hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians. Almost 320,000 people a month are being given food inside Syria or in the surrounding region; more than 900,000 people a month are being provided with drinking water; almost 316,000 medical consultations have been enabled; and 300,000 people inside Syria have received basic life-saving items, such as blankets, shelter and clothing. We are also acutely aware of the impact the crisis is having on the lives of children, 1 million of whom are now refugees. We are leading the No Lost Generation initiative with UNICEF and others, which is allocating £30 million to provide protection, trauma care and education for children affected by the crisis.

At the beginning of my speech, I mentioned the need for immediate and unfettered access so that all those in need inside Syria, including those trapped in besieged or hard-to-reach places, can receive aid. The deliberate obstruction of aid has been a particularly sickening aspect of this conflict, and there are reports of people being allowed to starve to death, which is utterly inhumane. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach all those in need, and we will not let up until that is done in the besieged city of Homs and across the country.

One of the considerable consequences of this conflict has been the immense pressure placed on Syria’s neighbouring countries. More than 2.3 million Syrians fleeing Assad’s brutality have sought refuge in countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq. I cannot commend highly enough the humanitarian spirit demonstrated by these countries, and we cannot underestimate the strain placed on their infrastructure. Through the humanitarian assistance we are providing in the region, we can help them better to shoulder that responsibility. In the face of the vast scale of this crisis, the resettlement of small numbers of refugees from those countries will provide them with only very limited relief, whereas funding to support a larger number of refugees in those places will help ease the stress on their systems.

We have also pledged support to a regional development and protection programme that will provide protection in neighbouring countries to those displaced from Syria, making it easier for them to return home when it is safe to do so. In addition to the £600 million we are providing in humanitarian relief, Britain is also providing £12 million in development funding from the Arab Partnership economic fund to Jordan. It is clear that the best and most immediate way to help displaced Syrians caught up in this terrible conflict is to focus on the region and neighbouring countries, thus reaching a far greater number of people and minimising the trauma and the displacement so many have already endured.

Britain can and should be proud of the role we are playing in supporting the Syrian people during a time of great crisis. As I have made clear, British money is helping to provide food, water and shelter to hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians every day. We are providing humanitarian assistance to people inside and outside Syria, working hard to achieve improved access to humanitarian aid and pressing Assad’s allies to push the regime to do much more, and through our relocation scheme, we will provide emergency sanctuary to some of the most vulnerable caught up in the war, including children and victims of torture and sexual violence.

The only real way, however, to ensure that the horror, the misery and the killing stop is through an agreed political settlement. That is why the Government will continue in their determination to urge all those involved to find a peaceful and sustainable solution to this crisis, and it is why we must keep up the pressure on Assad and his allies. Only when the fighting stops can the conditions for a solution to the humanitarian crisis be created, and only then will the men, women and children who have suffered so much and been so cruelly torn from their homes be able to return in safety to their homes and livelihoods, which is what the vast majority of Syrians so dearly wish.

[Several hon. Members]

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