LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Thousands more migrants from Ukraine are expected to arrive in the UK, according to charities, equal to the effort made following the violence in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
In a letter to the Times, Save the Children and Amnesty International, among others, stated that the UK should take the lead in offering refuge.
The US has warned that Russia’s invasion might result in the displacement of five million people.
The Home Office stated that British nationals and their families were its top concern.
However, it stated that as the situation unfolds, it will engage with international partners on matters such as migration.
Roads out of the nation became congested with traffic as Ukraine took the first hit of Russian airstrikes on Thursday, and some individuals proceeded on foot, wheeling their belongings in suitcases, across the border into Hungary and Poland.
More than 100,000 people are believed to have fled their homes, according to UN refugee head Filippo Grandi, who warned that the ramifications for their well-being might be “devastating.”
PM Boris Johnson said the conflict’s humanitarian consequences “threatens to be immense,” but that it is needed of the UK to do everything it can to help Ukraine’s economy and support it’s administration.
The charities, which include the International Rescue Committee UK, the Refugee Council, and a dozen other humanitarian organisations, wrote that the attack in Ukraine might be “the most serious European conflict since the collapse of Yugoslavia” in their letter.
“Through an evacuation and resettlement scheme a generation ago, the UK rescued the lives of thousands of families from the Balkans,” they claimed.
Now is the time for the government to respond with a well-funded programme, working with local governments around the country, to welcome Ukrainians seeking refuge.
The charity organisations also urged the government to reconsider its Nationality and Borders Bill, which they claimed would make it more difficult for Ukrainian refugees to claim refuge in the United Kingdom.
The law would make it a crime to deliberately enter the UK illegally and impose life sentences for anyone who help illegal entry into the nation, potentially punishing individuals seeking asylum.
Visa applications from Ukraine for those who are not linked to British nationals are currently halted, preventing them from entering the UK and claiming asylum.
The government, according to a source who informed the BBC is planning scenarios for a rise in refuge seekers from Ukraine.
