SCOTLAND welcomed 25 per cent of Syrian refugees that arrived in the UK since 2015 through the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme (SVPRP), new figures have revealed.
The SVPRP scheme was expanded in 2015. Since then, 7055 Syrians have arrived in the UK in total, 1800 of which have settled in Scotland.
The scheme was launched in 2014 and designed to aid “those in the greatest need, including people requiring urgent medical treatment, survivors of violence and torture, and women and children at risk”.
The 2015 expansion accompanied a UK Government pledge to resettle 20,000 Syrians in need of protection by the end of the parliamentary session.
Last week, however, reports emerged suggesting the Tories were failing to meet their targets. The UK Government has not taken in any child refugees under the Lord Dubs scheme this year, despite committing to resettle 3000 unaccompanied child refugees from Syria by 2020, it was revealed.
Commenting on the Scottish Government’s efforts to rehouse Syrian refugees, MSP Ben Macpherson welcomed the “excellent” news but cautioned that “more needs to be done in what is an off-the-scale humanitarian crisis that’s difficult to comprehend here at home”.
He added: “A recent all-party inquiry revealed that the UK public would not tolerate the UK Government turning away from this humanitarian crisis if they were more aware of what was happening.
“It also reported that UK ministers have done ‘as little as legally possible’ to help unaccompanied lone children who have fled war and conflict, which has left them vulnerable to trafficking.
“It’s time for the UK Government to significantly step up its refugee resettlement efforts in the midst of what is possibly the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War.”
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