How Furness Can Help Syrian Refugees.

6th September 2015

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By now I’m sure most of you (if not all of you) will have seen the shocking footage of the discovery of a 3 year old Syrian Child washed up on a Turkish beach.

It’s a haunting, heart wrenching image that encapsulates the desperate plight that the people of Syria are currently facing. The situation in Syria means that the world is facing the worst refugee crisis since WWII. The UK Government has set up the SVPR (Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation) scheme to help in the crisis. However so far this only provided refuge to 187 people.

Furness has a proud history of providing sanctuary to those in desperate need, and a local man has set up an online petition to offer help to Syrian refugees.

Christian Barnes, a tutor at Barrow Sixth Form College started the online petition ‘Furness Welcomes Syrian Refugees’ on Wednesday night and it already has (at time of writing) 1091 supporters. The petition calls for Barrow and South Lakeland Councils to play their part in the International Relief Programme by making an application to the Home Office for Furness to host a small number of Syrian refugee families.

Mr Barnes said “It’s been amazing. Every time I click back even after a minute or two it’s gone up by a few more. It just keeps building.

“I think it’s the right thing to do, it’s common humanity.

“Financial issues seem to dominate in our society – if there’s not a profit to be had then we don’t think about it. Sometimes you have to look beyond that even in times of austerity.

“If every town or area or council take just a few families it would make a big difference.

“During the Kosovar crisis refugees were taken in here and it was seen as a thing of pride.”

If you wish to sign the petition it can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ok5nksp