Thangam Debbonaire
MP for Bristol West
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
On 8 October 2019 the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Dr Andrew Murrison made a statement on the US troop withdrawal from northern Syria. This US withdrawal and the subsequent Turkish offensive, aiming to push Kurdish forces from the border region, have drawn an international outcry.
With 12 million displaced people from the Syrian war so far, and the possibility of refoulement (the forcible return of refugees to a country where they may well be unsafe) and new refugees from the current action, I asked the minister to consider increasing the government’s commitment to resettlement.
Within a couple of days my question already sounded either prophetic or out-of-date, given the escalation of hostilities straight afterwards. Within days the UN humanitarian agency Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said up to 160,000 civilians were on the move and it expected the number to rise.
I thought the minister’s answer was unnecessarily combative, given that I’d begun by praising the Department for International Development’s support in the region. But you can watch his answer here. I would love this country to be the best in the world for welcoming refugees – something that, in all honesty, we can’t claim to be today.
Last week (8 October) the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Dr Andrew Murrison made a statement on the US troop withdrawal from northern Syria. This US withdrawal and the subsequent Turkish offensive, aiming to push Kurdish forces from the border region, have drawn an international outcry. With 12 million displaced people from the Syrian war so far, and the possibility of refoulement (the forcible return of refugees to a country where they may well be unsafe) and new refugees from the current action, I asked the minister to consider increasing the government’s commitment to resettlement. I’m posting my question here, though it already sounds either prophetic or out-of-date, given the escalation of hostilities straight afterwards. The UN humanitarian agency Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says up to 160,000 civilians are now on the move and it expects the number to rise.I thought the minister’s answer was unnecessarily combative, given that I’d begun by praising the Department for International Development’s support in the region. But you can watch his answer here. In today’s debate on the Queen’s Speech I hope to raise, among other issues, several concerns over what Brexit could mean for refugees and asylum policy. Last week’s report from the House of Lords EU Home Affairs Committee ‘Brexit: refugee protection and asylum policy’ explains some of these issues clearly. https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/eu-home-affairs-subcommittee/news-parliament-2017/brexit-asylum-report/
Posted by Thangam Debbonaire MP for Bristol West on Tuesday, October 15, 2019