Refugee crisis: What can be done?
A report from the Red Cross and Scottish Refugee Council fringe at the SNP conference
In a party conference it is easy to become lost in details. Conferences are a chance for party members to talk policy and protocols and, the barnstorming speeches aside, the occasions can be introspective ones.
But amongst the internal debates there are also moments when members look at the bigger picture. An SNP conference fringe on the refugee crisis, held by British Red Cross and the Scottish Refugee Council, is a good example of how conferences can be a chance to look beyond party politics.
First Ally Thomas, the Red Cross head of Communications for Scotland, gave an overview of the current crisis, telling delegates that more than 3,000 people have died crossing the Mediterranean and describing some of the work done by the 9,000 Red Crescent volunteers working in Syria.
The organisation is clearly concerned that it is simply treating a symptom of the problem, rather than preventing people from needing to flee in the first place. The refugee camps around Syria are overwhelmed and it is simply impossible, she said, for every asylum seeker to go to a camp. Finishing, Thomas emphasised how hard the Red Cross and others are working to bring give those fleeing some dignity and safety.
She said: "Behind every statistic is a human life".
Next came Red Cross policy officer Fiona MacLeod, who has just returned from a trip to Lesbos with - amongst others - Scottish Government Minister for External Affairs and International Development, Humza Yousaf. She said the thing that surprised her most was the sheer number of people arriving on Lesbos. In one day, the island saw over 10,000 people arrive - an experience she described as "mindblowing".
It was a moving description of what she saw, with 50 to 60 people getting put on 30 horsepower boats and without a captain. She said the smugglers, who charge thousands to send people, deliberately made the boats as cheaply as possible so it would not matter if they never came back. One other concern she raised, from a personal point of view, was that there was a split between the treatment of Syrians and those from elsewhere.
Finally, John Wilkes, chief executive of the SRC, spoke - expressing concern over the language used by the UK government, and its attempt to describe refugees as 'economic migrants'.
"There are points in life when things just crystallise", he said, describing the moment the body of a little boy, Aylan Kurdi, was washed ashore as the moment people took note of just how serious things have become. The responses of the UK and Scottish Government have differed, Wilkes, said, with Scotland being more supportive of helping to resettle people, while the UK Government has pointed to its aid spending in the countries around Syria as proof of its commitment to help.
The scale of the crisis is obviously hard to realise. At one point Wilkes praised the UK Government for agreeing to take 20,000 refugees by 2020, before pointing out the number makes up around four days' worth of people arriving on one Greek island. Each of the panel members agreed that global action was needed, but in the meantime there was a consensus that changing relocation rules - so that families are not split up in order to get into the country, and so those that have already been split up can be reunited.
It seems it will be the action taken by governments that will decide how the matter is discussed, if it is discussed, at SNP conference again next year.
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