Britain needs to do more with the Mediterranean Refugee crisis

[mamabear35]

I know many of us feel absolutely desolate about the loss of life in the Mediteranean for those port families losing their lives.

The UK takes in just 1% of the worlds Refugees and compared to countries like Germany and Sweden it is proportionally unbalanced.
Don't just feel pity for those men, women and children. Let's try and actually do something.
Would be great if we could get enough signatures to get some action.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/105991

Yep. Signed.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/105991

Since the the beginning of the 2000’s our NET immigration figure is far higher than the 1990’s and in the UK, over that decade, the demand for social housing went from 1 million families to close to 1.9 million families (around 5 million individuals) – and current the best we can do is hold it there.

July 2014; ”1.9 Million Families On The Housing Waiting List”
www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/housing-waiting-list

”1,843,992 Families In England And Scotland On Council Housing Waiting List As Average House Prices Are Now Between 5.8 And 6.3 Times Median Earnings”

So people please tell me where the UK will give asylum seekers a UK home, that we are not CURRENTLY offering to the UK’s indigenous poor?

WE are building 145,000 new homes a year, annual net migration currently around 330,000 is similar to 2004/5 levels DUE to the strength of our economy/more liberal employment laws versus the Eurozone and that is likely to continue - so let an EU 'hollowing out' of jobless citizens coming here THIS TIME take our share of asylum seekers - as historically we 'have done our bit' and then some.

Signed.

If our lame in-bed-with-the-bankers government actually did something about the number of homes bought up by investors which are deliberately left unoccupied (something like 1/10 of all British homes) and they did something about selling off all social housing to private lanlords, there wouldn't be so much of a housing crisis. There is lots of space in the UK.

Shared on Facebook and Twitter.

Apologies, before I get accused of lying the above figures for empty homes are more like 1/10 of all homes worth £1m and up. Concentrated in areas like Islington, K&C, Docklands (30% or so) and thtoughout the rest of the UK it is something like 600,000 homes total.
I know some individual councils were discussing fines for this specific problem but I dont think any legislative law has changed.

I think that as one of the richest nations we should certainly be paying more to help the refugees and migrants.
But I also think that we have had such a rapid rise in our own migration figures that it's fair to limit how many new migrants we take.
There's a very interesting article in The Guardian here that talks of how many European countries need young people to avoid an ageing population catastrophe down the line.
Wouldn't it be much more sensible as a pan-European solution to encourage the African refugees and economic migrants to move to areas in Europe that need young people? And for the richer countries to pay new homes/roads/schools (or whatever is needed) so creating jobs too?

in the space of 7 replies the refugees become 'migrants'

Appalling and depressing. There isn't any relation to the two things.

A migrant choses to relocate for economic advantage (which is their right, and one we would each defend as our own right too, no?).

A refugee is risking their life, and their childs' life, to escape war, famine, poverty and persecution. A refugee is willing to put their child in a rubber dinghy in the dead of night facing death with their child in their arms in the hope that they will have a chance of something better on the other side.

I came on mumsnet today with the intention, like mamabear, to rally support and see what the collective power of mothers could or would like to achieve to help others who - but for the grace of god - are suffering in ways we cannot imagine. I'm disgusted that this is the reaction on here.

If we can organise a christmas gift appeal for each other that touches hundred of lives every year, can we not make a similar effort for families like us who have nothing? Who are traumatised beyond repair?

IF something more positive is being posted on here please point me in that direction...

The UK is NOT a rich country, it is the 5th largest economy in the world, has around the 17th largest gold reserves in the world and NONE OF THAT means we have enough homes in the UK for the indigenous population – never mind the annual net INCREASE in our population – as the UK economy is a magnet for the poor within the rich and poorest EU nations, to come here as a condition of EU membership.

And if expected the UK decides its future is to stay within the EU, how many more from an EU population of over 400 million (as excluding the UK), will want to take advantage of EU membership and migrate to find a new like for themselves here?

So it does not matter how anyone labels new citizens to the UK, we have to pragmatically look at the problems of physical UK accommodation now, and understand that the homes shortage will remain for years to come.

Has it escaped anyones attention when mentioning a country's wealth that there are far richer nations than the UK WITHIN THE MIDDLE EAST with loads of land they can reclaim if currently not enough - where the transition for Syrian or other regional refugees on social, climatic and religious customs to their new homes - would be no problem at all?

Why is this not a greater Middle East regional problem with the wealthiest nations with much greater per capita wealth than the UK, stepping up?

And the journey to freedom would clearly be far less hazardous.

Didn't you notice that the Middle East is where all the wars are. That's why refugees are escaping the Middle East.

They are not refugees.

squidzin . have YOU heard of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the seven emirates that make up the United Arab emirates, Oman, Qatar - where all the fecking money is 'people' think is in the UK, that for several decades employees half of the Indian sub continent - but could now support their own region?

Would you, as a Christian Syrian want to be forced to live in Sharia Law Saudi Arabia and be forced to wear a head scarf?

I think your understanding is limited at best. Racist at worst.

Ok sorry. While your whole argument rings a bit like "They should stick to their own kind"
Hands up, it's out of line to call people racist.

Only in your sad/closed mind, sweet cheeks.

FYI should the economically struggling world seriously contract around regional trading or other blocks, I reiterate the Gulf countries I mentioned also have an insatiable need for migrant labour, from labourers to professional and administrators - so why not those from their own region looking for a temp or permanent home?

Sure it means they'll have to PAY them better, but its not as if they haven't got the money TO pay people needed to maintain their societies and own small indigenous populations.

Simple answer - anyone should be allowed to sponsor a migrant, they just have to guarantee their behaviour and ensure that they are funded for 10 years. Any conviction for a crime resulting in more than a 3 month sentence results in both the immigrant and the sponsor serving the sentence. Any default on funding means the migrant is deported and the sponsor suffers confiscation of goods. If the migrant gets a job then the sponsors liability reduces. If the sponsor dies then the migrant is given leave to stay.

Any volunteers?

Signed.

Oh dear isitmebut why are you so angry?

This is the worst refugee crisis since world war 2 and we took in plenty of refugees from Europe then, especially when we didn't have the economic means to do so.

The UK takes in less than 1% of the worlds refugees ... In fact last year we took only 700 families from Syria... And yes of course they are Refugees, in case you hadn't noticed there is civil war raging on in their home country now and if they survive Assad's barrel bombing they then have to survive Isis' arbitrary slaughter and rape.

You suggest the refugees should go to Quatar or Saudi Arabia, because their human rights records are so remarkable?

First and foremost these are people, families, children that you would deny a chance for survival let alone a better life.
Shame on you for using your privilege of being born in this country against those who had the terrible misfortune to be born elsewhere. Let's hope you never find yourself needing the charity of others.

Signed
Thanks mamabear for the link. I ll tell my family.
Whatever you believe, these people need a place under the sun now. I see on the photograophs the eyes of their children and I cry.

mamabear35 ... I am not angry, just frustrated that so many people when giving out 1% figures on the worlds refugees, chose to forget that the UK for the past decade has become the home of the EU's poor and unemployed - as a condition of our EU Membership - and no one knows how many EU citizens (as their right) will follow them for years to come.

Currently we have a population of 64.6 million, and even up to recently (as the figures within the link below shows) our net inflows were far higher than the largest countries/economies in Europe - so I don't understand why refugees fearing their own non EU region governments, have to pass over those other EU countries to add to our net inflow of EU citizens - when it is the UK with a housing crisis.

Aug 2013; ”Now we are 63.7m: UK had biggest population growth in Europe over past year”
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/now-we-are-637m-uk-had-biggest-population-growth-in-europe-over-past-year-8751929.html

So you don't try to put any shame on me, as you know NOTHING about my current circumstances, as I know nothing of yours e.g. if you will be affected in any way if tens of thousands Africans, Syrians or Afghans settle here and put pressure on UK homes/services, as the poorest in our society surely will.

Immigration is only part of the UK issue, we also have a high birth rate, and already this relatively small UK within decades will be more populated than a honking great country like Germany.

Aug 2015; ”UK to be EU’s most populous country in just three decades, due to immigration”
www.rt.com/uk/313929-uk-immigration-eurostat-germany/

”If current immigration and birth rate patterns continue, the United Kingdom will overtake Germany to accommodate a population of over 75 million people by 2050, which will continue soaring, while the rest of Europe stabilizes. The projections have been published by the official EU body Eurostat.”

P.S. At what stage does a refugee well away from the likes of Assad and ISIS, who won't register in the country they are in as want to travel across Europe, become an economic migrant and similar to all those within the EU who came here seeking a better life?

Don't have any easy solutions, but the refugee crisis is horrific. There's a similar petition on change.org calling for immediate sanctuary while their future is decided if anyone's interested (just so's you know, there's a picture of a drowned child at the top). www.change.org/p/rt-hon-theresa-may-mp-no-more-drownings-immediate-sanctury-for-those-fleeing-from-war

I'm sure you have two balls isitme, neither of which are Crystal.

Protecting your own interest is a mainstream centre-political agenda.

True revolution for equality will come from the rise of the actions of the poorest 75% and forgotten billions. It is inevitable and unstoppable.

.

LightningOnlyStrikesOnce I signed that too because I aggree something has to be done now. Earlier the photo of a catastrophy was shown in a Greek online paper: two boats today capsised as they sailed off for Kos, 11 drowned but the waves and winds threw the dead to the Turkish coast. There are very strong winds in the Aegean that start in September and crossing is perilous.

I hear a lot of complaining isitme and scare mongering but you're not offering any solutions.

The first article you threw up is over two years old and the second article is "predicting" a possibility in 2050... Not sure even you are clairvoyant.

But you don't have to be a Fortune teller to know that this scale of human misery could be avoided if the UK does what it does best and mobilises aid and helps to organise at least some temporary accommodation for these refugees. It takes a special breed of person to see the body of a 3 year old boy lying face down on a beach having drowned in desperation, and not think it is OUR problem. Human misery doesn't have to affect you directly before you decide to do something about it. I don't care what your personal situation is, its a hell of a lot better than those poor families with nothing left to lose.
And by the way, asylum seekers don't get a choice about where they are placed in the UK they go where there are houses available and yes, right here, right now there are plenty of housing options for those in need. How do I know? Because I work with families and placing them every day.

Thank you everyone for signing the petition so far... Let's try and keep up momentum.