Pauline Latham OBE MP has spoken in the House of Commons for a peaceful solution to the Syria Crisis and supporting refugees in the region.
Mrs Latham, in a question to the Secretary of State for International Development, the Rt Hon Justin Greening MP, praised the Secretary of State’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis and called for a calm response to the crisis which focuses on supporting refugees in the region they grew up in, as opposed to encouraging them to come to the UK.
Mid-Derbyshire’s MP said dialogue with Russia was required to gain a full understanding of the situation on the ground in Syria. In addition, tackling the Assad regime, who remain in charge in Syria with heavy support from Russia, was key to bringing peace to the conflict which has left millions in need of humanitarian assistance.
Mrs Latham’s remarks come a week after the UK hosted a donor conference which raised £7billion pounds for refugees affected by the Syrian Civil War. The UK is already the second largest provider of assistance to refugees, giving over £2.3 billion dollars of assistance since 2012 when the conflict began.
In her reply the Secretary of State agreed with Pauline Latham’s comments, that the best way to support refugees is to help them in the areas around Syria and not remove them from the region they grew up in.
The Rt Hon Justin Greening MP said: “She [Pauline Latham] is right to recognise that refugees want to stay close to home…None of the refugees leaving Syria thought they would be doing so for more than a few weeks or months. It is important we now go beyond giving them day to day support to make sure refugees are not just alive but have a life whilst they are away from home”.
The statement comes the same week Pauline Latham is hosting an event on the Syrian Refugee crisis with the Minister for Refugees, Richard Harrington MP and the Bishop of Derby, the Rt Reverend Alistair Redfern.
In September 2015, in response to the escalating refugee crisis, the Government announced it would be resettling 20,000 of the most at-risk refugees from the region in the UK by the end of this Parliament. Richard Harrington MP was appointed Minister of Refugees especially to oversee this process.
The details of the event are:
Date: Friday, February 12th
Time: 2.00 – 4.00pm
Location: St Peters Church, 6 Chesterfield Road, Belper, DE56 1FD
Anyone who is interested on the topic is invited to attend and hear directly from the Minister the work the UK is doing to deal with the Syrian refugee crisis and ask any questions they may have on the issue.
If you would like to attend please contact Amanda Howitt in the Office of Pauline Latham OBE MP on Howitta@parliament.uk or call 01332 676 679