(CB) [V]:...According to the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees, of the 79.5 million people around
the world who have been forced to flee their homes, nearly 26
million are refugees. The UNHCR estimates that 40% are children and
68% come from just five countries. It cannot be beyond our wit—our
collective genius—to drive this issue to the top of Governments’
agendas. Even if they do not accept that there are altruistic and
humanitarian reasons to act, there are plenty of self-interested
reasons why they should do so.
As the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, reminded us, today we
commemorate the anniversary of Kristallnacht—the night of broken
glass—which included the destruction of 267 synagogues. Eleanor
Rathbone MP established the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees.
Two years later, on 10 July 1940, in a six-hour debate, she
intervened on no fewer than 20 occasions to insist that Britain
had a duty of care to the refugees being hunted down by the
Nazis. She said that a nation had an obligation to give succour
to those fleeing persecution—in her words,
“not only in the interests of humanity and of the refugees, but
in the interests of security itself”.—[Official Report, Commons,
10/7/1940; col. 1212.]
She said that discussions about asylum seekers and refugees
“always begin with an acknowledgement of the terrible nature of
the problem and expressions of sympathy with the victims. Then
comes a tribute to the work of the voluntary organisations. Then
some account of the small leisurely steps taken by the
Government. Next, a recital of the obstacles—fear of
anti-semitism or the jealousy of the unemployed,
or of encouraging other nations to offload their Jews on to us”.
In 2020, nothing much has changed, and it is hard not to see the
parallels...
