Freedom from Torture urges UK Prime Minister to resettle more refugees

Freedom from Torture is urging the UK Prime Minister to pledge to resettle more refugees in the UK at the EU leaders' meeting and offer hope to those fleeing torture and other atrocities in the Middle East and Africa.

Sonya Sceats, Freedom from Torture's Director of Policy and Advocacy, said:

"The people smugglers are in business because they seem to be the only hope for those fleeing torture and human rights violations. A way for the Prime Minister to tackle this is to offer to resettle more refugees in the UK so that those fleeing human rights abuses have planned and legal routes to sanctuary.

"The Prime Minister has agreed in principle that this is the right thing to do as he has already offered to resettle more Syrians but the numbers of places need to reflect the unprecedented scale of the international refugee crisis and the offer should include those fleeing human rights abuses in other countries such as Eritrea and Somalia.

"Resettling more refugees in this way would allow the UK to play its part in responding to the crisis in a planned way and would contribute to ensuring that survivors of torture and other human rights abuses do not have to resort to the death boats and other dangerous routes.

"The UK should also continue to play an active part in search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean and ensure access to a fair and robust asylum process for those who reach the UK."