More than 100 faith leaders have written to Boris Johnson, asking him to commit his government to offering refugees a sanctuary in the UK.
The signatories to the open letter include more than 20 Church of England bishops, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, 33 rabbis, the director of the Hindu Council, the founder of City Sikhs, the archbishop of Wales, the primus of the Scottish Episcopal church, and leaders from the Quakers, Methodists, United Reformed church, the Salvation Army, Buddhists and Zoroastrians.
The letter is also supported by the British Red Cross, the Refugee Council and Safe Passage.
It seeks assurances from Johnson that last month’s announcement that the UK will admit up to 5,000 refugees in 2020-2021 “is not a one-off, but rather the start of a lasting commitment by the UK to welcome its share of people seeking sanctuary globally”.
The signatories suggest that the UK can and should accept at least 10,000 refugees each year, including at least 1,000 vulnerable and unaccompanied children from conflict zones and Europe. “As one of the world’s richest countries, seeking to build and demonstrate global cooperation and goodwill, this is a small ask of the UK,” they write.
The letter goes on: “Today, there are families living in refugee camps who may be there for generations. There are people in conflict zones whose lives are in constant danger. There are children surviving in car parks and on the side of motorways in Europe; preyed on by traffickers and others who seek to do them harm. These are people who deserve a chance to rebuild their lives and to become part of British society, like so many refugees have before them.”
“As our new prime minister, we ask you to show the compassionate leadership this issue deserves,” the letter concludes.
The bishop of Croydon, Jonathan Clark, said: ‘The offering of sanctuary to those in need is a fundamental principle that echoes across and between faiths … This letter shows the strength of interfaith support for helping more children and I urge the prime minister to act now and give child refugees the hope they so desperately need.”
The chief executive of Safe Passage, Eleanor Harrison, said: “Like all the signatories to this letter, we urge the government to take this chance to ensure that child refugees from conflict zones and Europe have a lasting route to safety here.”
