UPDATE: Refugee Crisis Action

Our inbox has been flooded with people calling our politicians to act with fairness and vision on the refugee crisis, thank you for standing with us!

Over the past few weeks, our televisions, radios and Twitter feeds have been dominated by stories of people fleeing conflict-ridden situations in Syria for safety and protection in another country. More than 4.1 million people have been forced to seek safety outside Syria, many of whom are arriving in neighbouring countries such as Lebanon and many others are traveling all the way to Europe. Another 422,000 are still trapped in besieged communities in Syria. They’re living in desperate situations struggling for their lives. Some 12.2million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance.

This is a truly global crisis that requires urgent action from politicians across the world. Last Thursday we launched an emergency campaign to the Prime Minister and Theresa May ahead of a meeting of European leaders on Monday. Hundreds of you joined us in urging them to show leadership in the EU by agreeing to welcome a significant and proportionate share of refugees, push for a clear EU resettlement plan and work together with others for peace in Syria.

For that, we want to say…

Thank you!

There was no clear outcome from the meeting on Monday and so it’s still uncertain what the EU’s response to the crisis will be.

However, Christian Aid is continuing to work with partners in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq and partners from the ACT Alliance in Europe. They’re providing emergency humanitarian supplies such as food, bedding, health services and psychological support to children and women in need.

As long as the conflict in Syria and Iraq continues and winter draws near, the need will grow. Please do continue to stand with our neighbours who are battling dangerous journeys to find safety by giving and praying.

We’re going to continue to keep the pressure on our leaders to make sure they respond with fairness and vision whilst scaling up efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Syria that’s at the root of the crisis.

70 years ago, Christian Aid was formed to respond to a refugee crisis. It’s a tragedy that, 70 years on, we are seeing a refugee crisis on a scale not seen in Europe since that time. With our money, prayers and action, we can again bring hope to those facing fear and uncertainty.