Please continue to support our Refugees Welcome campaign

Refugees Welcome: The government must do more to make the UK a safe haven for refugees – and provide sanctuary for displaced Ukrainian people, writes Harriet Williamson

A Ukrainian family is reunited after crossing the border to Medyka, Poland (Adam Gray/SWNS)

A massive thank you to everyone who has supported our Refugees Welcome campaign so far.

More than 130,000 people have already signed our petition, calling on the UK government to provide aid and support to the people of Ukraine in their hour of need.

Thanks to your generosity, we have also raised over £100,000 for charities on the ground in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. On 3 March, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukrainian Humanitarian Appeal was launched, bringing together 13 leading UK aid charities, including the Red Cross and Save the Children, the two groups we have supported so far.

On Voices, we have had Lord Alf Dubs, Lib Dem MP Layla Moran and much-loved children’s author Michael Rosen writing in support of our campaign.

The government must do more to make the UK a safe haven for refugees – and provide sanctuary for displaced Ukrainian people, fleeing the horror and devastation of war.

On Sunday, the home secretary, Priti Patel, was urged to send emergency help for at least 150 Ukrainian refugees stranded in Calais. Women and children were turned away and told to get visas at UK consulates in Paris or Brussels. French interior minister Gerald Darmanin accused the UK of “lacking humanity” in a strongly worded letter to Patel.

EU countries have opened their borders to all Ukrainian refugees. They don’t need visas. They can come as they are and receive sanctuary.

According to the UN, 1.5 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes after the invasion by Russian forces. Most have entered Poland, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary. UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, estimates that more than 4 million people will be displaced by the conflict. It is likely that the refugee crisis is only just beginning.

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Please keep sharing our petition, keep reading and talking – and listening. Listen to the experiences of those who know what it means to leave everything behind, with no choice but to rely on the humanity of strangers and strange governments. Stay generous. Stay open-hearted.

If shells were falling on your home and you had to flee to another country, carrying your children, your pets and a few scant belongings, how would you want to be received?

Yours,

Harriet Williamson

Voices commissioning editor

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here