The chief of the White Helmets rescue group has accused the UK and EU countries of “double standards” in its treatment of refugees from Ukraine and Syria.
Raed Al Saleh, chairman of Syria Civil Defence, said that everyone fleeing conflict in their homeland should be “treated equally.”
“The preferential treatment of the Ukrainian refugees is there – we can see it,” he said.
“It is double standards. Refugees should be treated equally regardless of their race, ethnicity or religion, because they have equal rights.”
Experts at international think tank, Chatham House, have similarly criticised European governments for their relativist actions on refugees.
The “unprecedented showing of solidarity” EU members have made towards refugees from Ukraine has also revealed a “chilling reality check of Europe’s double standards,” wrote Chatham House associates Emily Venturi and Anna Vallianatou.
As they open their borders and social security to Ukrainians, Greek coastguards and Spanish police continue to engage in illegal pushback policies to repel asylum-seekers from their shores.
Meanwhile, Poland continues to block entry to thousands of asylum-seekers, leaving them trapped in a forest along the border with Belarus or detained in centres few have access to.
EU agreements with countries outside the bloc allow for an outsourcing of asylum processing while "detention, and lengthy asylum procedures await the few asylum seekers who manage to enter Europe from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa."
“With Europe’s grim history of restrictive asylum policies, it is wishful thinking that the warm welcome to Ukrainians will extend to all asylum-seekers. The EU solidarity to displaced Ukrainians illustrates the deeply politicized – and often discriminatory – nature of providing refugee protection.”
The UK Home Office confirmed on Wednesday that 25,500 visas had been issued to Ukrainians since the war in the country began over a month ago.
This figure includes 2,700 visas issued to people who want to enter the country as refugees under the Homes for Ukraine scheme and 22,800 permits under a separate family initiative.
In comparison, the UK resettled 20,000 Syrian refugees over a six-year period during the peak of the decade-long war.
A further 666 are coming to Britain under a separate sponsorship route but there was never a family visa offered for Britons wishing to sponsor Syrian relatives.
Mr Al Saleh is in London this week to hold meetings with MPs and peers, including Britain’s former ambassador to Iraq, Stephen Hickey.
Syria Civil Defence, commonly known as the White Helmets, was created in 2013 as a volunteer rescue operation made of former bakers, teachers, electricians and other “ordinary” Syrians working together to save the lives of those wounded during attacks in the country.
Mr Saleh said he did not have an appointment with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, or any ministers, because “the entire world is preoccupied now”.
Nevertheless, he said he hoped his plea to end the bombardment of Syrian people and to hold “those who perpetrated those violations against them, especially the use of chemical weapons” to account would be relayed to Mr Johnson.
Speaking at a talk held at SOAS, part of the University of London, Mr Al Saleh questioned why international leaders were horrified by the Russian bombardment of Ukraine but had failed to do anything about the same in his homeland.
“There must be justice for Russian war crimes in Syria. The international community is saying Mariupol is like Aleppo, so we may ask them – what did you do to hold Putin to account for Aleppo?”
He said he also sought “support for a peace process and for a political solution that will guarantee the rights of the people and that would provide the people with a better life so that it helps them return back to their own homelands”.
The White Helmets were nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2016 and were awarded the Right Livelihood Award the same year.
Mr Al Saleh said the group, which operates in opposition-controlled areas of Syria, now has 3,200 volunteers has saved the lives of 125,000 people since the war began. He said that without Syrian Civil Defence, the “refugee crisis would have been worse and would have been bigger and would have continued for more years”.
“The White Helmets are still providing an array of services, including ambulance services, urban search and rescue, fire extinguishing services, health care, utility maintenance – whether it is electricity, power or water networks – and they are providing maintenance and repair wherever it’s needed, so that they support the steadfastness of civilians so that they remain in their home areas,” he said.
Comments