Thought for the Week: Refugee crisis
Friends make a statement on the refugee crisis
‘That which is morally wrong cannot be politically right.’
(A Quaker statement in 1822)
‘Quakers in Britain urge the UK government to welcome those desperately seeking a place of safety, in Europe, from the dangers in their own countries. In this urgent situation it cannot be right to harden hearts against people who are struggling and dying on European soil and in the seas around us.
‘In Britain we have a tradition of sheltering those in danger, as we did with the Kindertransport, rescuing thousands of children from Nazi-occupied Europe so many years ago, and more recently, when we welcomed refugees from countries including Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Bosnia and Kosova. It is time to open our hearts and communities again.
‘This exceptional time of need calls for a proportionate response from all the governments of Europe working together. We call for mechanisms to be created that will enable people to travel safely and to secure legal protection – including in Britain.
‘Refugees are fleeing from fear. Further violent interventions in countries such as Syria will not provide a solution. Difficult but compassionate decisions need to be made to secure peace for people in these regions.
‘Quakers assert that all human life is precious – each person is a child of God and the loss of one diminishes us all. In this severe crisis, we hear the Spirit calling us to throw ourselves into the fray with all the love and courage we can muster.’
Meeting for Sufferings, meeting in London on Saturday 5 September, made the above public statement on the unfolding crisis of refugees fleeing across Europe.
The Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) and the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) have previously called for safe paths to legal protection and protested against the cessation of funding for the search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean.
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