Source: Al Jazeera
Isle of Bute, Scotland – In his office in Edinburgh, Michael Russell, a member of the Scottish Parliament for the district of Argyll and Bute, reflects on Europe’s response to the “refugee crisis” of 2015.
“I don’t think it’s any surprise that Angela Merkel is Time’s Person of the Year: a slightly right-wing, conservative politician who has shown an extraordinary sense of leadership in saying ‘We have an obligation to help and we are going to help’,” Russell says. “Little wonder that many refugees want to go to Germany.”
What Russell would like them to say is “We want to come to Scotland.”
“There has been a strong feeling in Scotland that we should be doing more, and a frustration that we can’t,” he explains.
As the country is part of the United Kingdom, decisions surrounding the resettlement of refugees in Scotland are made through the UK government, which has agreed to take in 4,000 Syrian refugees a year until 2020, a number Russell considers “unduly restricted”.
‘A heaven-sent opportunity’
| We have a moral duty to help. We cannot sit back and do nothing while these poor people try desperately to escape war-torn countries, risking their lives and their family’s lives in the process. |
Not only does he believe that there is a moral obligation to do more, he thinks that taking in higher numbers of refugees could be socially and economically beneficial for Scotland.
“There are parts of Scotland where it would be immensely helpful to have refugees. Germany has a well-developed and flourishing economy. We have economic problems caused by depopulation in the west of Scotland,” Russell explains. “Here is a heaven-sent opportunity to do something sensible and to do something helpful.”
One location that has suffered from depopulation is the Isle of Bute, an island off the western coast of Scotland, located in Russell’s constituency of Argyll and Bute.
Scotland is made up of a mainland and close to 800 islands. Although it is one of the most easily accessible islands in western Scotland, Bute is only reachable by an hour-long boat journey from the mainland.
It may seem an unlikely location for the resettlement of refugees but in early December, 10 Syrian families took up residence on the island, which currently has a population of 6,500 people. Five more families are due to arrive over the course of January.
Argyll and Bute’s Refugee Resettlement Group held their first meeting on September 18, 2015, to discuss the logistics of the refugees’ arrival.
That same month, Dick Walsh, the regional council leader, said: “We have a moral duty to help. We cannot sit back and do nothing while these poor people try desperately to escape war-torn countries, risking their lives and their family’s lives in the process.
“If we can help just 20 people, then that’s 20 people who will have the opportunity of a better life,” he continued.
The response of the island community
On an icy-cold December evening, just as the last ferry of the day departed for the mainland, a queue began to gather outside Bute’s Discovery Centre Cinema, which overlooks the harbour of the island’s main town, Rothesay. Inside was a screening of the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life, to raise money for local non-profit organisation Bute Oasis, which planned to provide 115 holiday hampers for Bute’s most vulnerable families.
Categories: Europe, refugees, Scotland, The Muslim Times