'Rethink language used about migrants'

Lynn Green joins leaders of three UK Churches to call on the government to change the way it speaks about the migrant crisis

The Government has been asked to "adopt language which better reflects the British values of compassion, hospitality and respect for human dignity" in its discussions on the situation in Calais.

In a statement issued by the Joint Public Issues Team, Baptist Union General Secretary the Revd Lynn Green has joined Dr Jill Barber, Vice-President of the Methodist Conference, the Revd David Grosch-Miller, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church, the Rt Revd Angus Morrison, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and the Revd Steve Wild President of the Methodist Conference, in calling on the Government to to promote "a more informed and higher level of debate on the issue".

On 30 July Prime Minister David Cameron, described people crossing the Mediterranean as "a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean seeking a better life", which was subsequently described as "awful, dehumanising language from a world leader" by the Refugee Council.

Speaking to the BBC last week the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, said, "So long as there are large numbers of pretty desperate migrants marauding around the area, there always will be a threat to the tunnel security".

'The language in which the Calais situation is being discussed blurs the distinction between people fleeing oppressive regimes and those seeking to come to Britain for other reasons,' the statement said.

'To talk of those gathering at Calais as a ‘swarm’, or ‘marauding around the area’ encourages people to see those in desperation as less than human, and so less deserving of sympathy, respect or dignity.'

The numbers involved do not warrant talk of an ‘invasion’ or ‘flood’ of migrants, the statement continued.

'The people at Calais represent a tiny fraction of the overall number of migrants who have entered the EU in the past year. In 2014, Germany took three times more asylum seekers than the UK's 14,000, and Sweden twice as many. France, Italy and Switzerland also granted asylum to more people than the UK.

'Many of the migrants congregating at Calais are fleeing repression and have stories of suffering and hardship to tell. Some are unaccompanied children.'

The statement welcomed the affirmation by Home Secretary Theresa May that Europe would "always provide protection for those genuinely fleeing conflict or persecution".

'We share the concern of all involved to see a peaceful and humane solution to this particular expression of a far broader catastrophe.' The Churches have also asked the Government to recognise that most migrants cannot be returned to their country of origin and to accept the need for the UK to take its share of migrants.

The statement concluded by encouraging an urgent call to prayer, "to remember in our churches the importance and equal value God places on every human life, and to seek wisdom that we can challenge injustice and work for peace for the whole world. Let us seek direction and discernment for ourselves and for our leaders for solutions to this ongoing crisis, for the sake of all peoples."


Read the full statement here


Thumbnail image | Julie Ricard | Unsplash