11-01-2015, 06:15 PM
I think perhaps the UK's idea of taking refugees from the camps around Syria is a better idea than just letting anyone in who manages to make it to Europe, although the number (20,000) the Government is proposing to take is pitiful.
Otherwise only those with the resources to pay smugglers (scum getting rich out of misery) and the strength to make the journey are helped, whilst the poorest/weakest are left behind. Germany's approach just sends out the message that if you make it you'll be welcome and that is encouraging people from all over the world to try their luck. Clearly we can't take all the world's poor and even Germany has had to close their borders now, whilst criticising other countries for not taking more people but they decided to signal that all are welcome, thus aggravating the problem, without agreeing this approach with those countries first. People are also worried that welcoming everybody who turns up could allow ISIS supporters (or other terrorists) to get in and taking people from the refugee camps after vetting them avoids that risk.
Providing financial support to Syria's neighbouring countries to care for refugees also seems like a sensible option that will make it easier for them to return home and rebuild their lives and country once the situation is under control (if that ever happens of course), although I recognise that even with such support those countries can only accommodate a certain number of people before it causes problems.
In the UK any person with children (including refugees) gets priority for social housing, so single people in desperate need of a home get pushed to the bottom of the list (basically you have no chance as a single person unless you're disabled enough to get priority), so naturally people see any influx of people as harmful to their own chances. This is largely due to successive Governments failing to build much needed social housing and selling it off at a discount to tenants, as they're obsessed with private ownership and keeping house prices high but that's out of the control of the average person with no home. I believe the Government is planning to introduce a 5Â year residency test to qualify for social housing, which would help but I don't know if that would survive a challenge in the EU courts.
Otherwise only those with the resources to pay smugglers (scum getting rich out of misery) and the strength to make the journey are helped, whilst the poorest/weakest are left behind. Germany's approach just sends out the message that if you make it you'll be welcome and that is encouraging people from all over the world to try their luck. Clearly we can't take all the world's poor and even Germany has had to close their borders now, whilst criticising other countries for not taking more people but they decided to signal that all are welcome, thus aggravating the problem, without agreeing this approach with those countries first. People are also worried that welcoming everybody who turns up could allow ISIS supporters (or other terrorists) to get in and taking people from the refugee camps after vetting them avoids that risk.
Providing financial support to Syria's neighbouring countries to care for refugees also seems like a sensible option that will make it easier for them to return home and rebuild their lives and country once the situation is under control (if that ever happens of course), although I recognise that even with such support those countries can only accommodate a certain number of people before it causes problems.
In the UK any person with children (including refugees) gets priority for social housing, so single people in desperate need of a home get pushed to the bottom of the list (basically you have no chance as a single person unless you're disabled enough to get priority), so naturally people see any influx of people as harmful to their own chances. This is largely due to successive Governments failing to build much needed social housing and selling it off at a discount to tenants, as they're obsessed with private ownership and keeping house prices high but that's out of the control of the average person with no home. I believe the Government is planning to introduce a 5Â year residency test to qualify for social housing, which would help but I don't know if that would survive a challenge in the EU courts.