UN plea on refugee crisis: Must do more

Yesterday’s plea from the United Nations urging rich nations to support Syria’s neighbours by offering the most vulnerable Syrian refugees, including torture victims and women caring for children on their own, an opportunity to resettle in their country is another indication that we have not woken up to the world’s escalating migration and refugee crisis.

That this is such an incendiary issue in many European countries where right-wing parties are only too happy to exploit uncertainties around the issue make a difficult situation even more difficult.

However, that does not mean we can allow Africans trying to get to Europe to drown in their hundreds in the Mediterranean or endure dreadful, long-term hardships in grim refugee camps in Turkey.

Despite what we imagine, and despite today’s water protests, this is a comparatively rich country and we are obliged to do much, much more to help the innocent vitims of conflict, no matter where they come from.

Surely it is not beyond our capacity to offer safe homes to, say, a thousand refugees?