In response to the worsening humanitarian crisis, David Cameron announced Friday morning that Britain will accept ‘thousands’ more Syrian refugees.
He said that additional refugees would come from UN camps bordering Syria and not from those already in Europe.
Calls for the UK to take in more refugees have intensified following the publication of a picture of the body of a drowned three-year-old Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi, washed up a Turkish beach. An online petition has received more than three times the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger a Parliament debate.
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The BBC reports:
Britain would act with its “head and heart”, he said, as he pledged to find long-term solutions to the crisis.
No specific figure has been given but the UN refugee agency said the UK would take a further 4,000 Syrian refugees.
Earlier this week, the prime minister said accepting more people was not the simple answer to the situation, described by some as the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two.
But speaking in Lisbon after talks with his Portuguese counterpart, Mr Cameron said the UK had a “moral responsibility” to help those displaced by the four-year conflict in Syria, adding that more details would be set out next week following discussions with organisations working in the region.
